VIII. EVALUATION.pdf

8(a) STARS II Solicitation QTA609MCA0010

EVALUATION

VIII. EVALUATION

FAR 52.252-1 SOLICITATION PROVISIONS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

(FEB 1998)

This solicitation incorporates one or more solicitation provisions 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. The offeror is cautioned that the listed provisions may include blocks that must be completed by the offeror and submitted with its quotation or offer. In lieu of submitting the full text of those provisions, the offeror may identify the provision by paragraph identifier and provide the appropriate information with its quotation or offer. Also, the full text of a solicitation provision may be accessed electronically at this address: http://www.arnet.gov/far

FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION (48 CFR CHAPTER 1) SOLICITATION

PROVISIONS

PROVISION NO. TITLE DATE

52.203-11 Certification and Disclosure SEP 2007 Regarding Payments to Influence Certain Federal Transactions 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors— JUN 2008 Commercial Items.

52.214-34 Submission of Offers in the English APR 1991 Language 52.214-35 Submission of Offers in U.S. APR 1991 Currency 52.222-46 Evaluation of Compensation FEB 1993 For Professional Employees 52.237-10 Identification of Uncompensated OCT 1997 Overtime

(End of Provision)

ADDENDUM TO FAR 52.212-1

The offeror agrees to hold the prices in its offer firm for 365 calendar days (not the 30 calendar days in the default mode of 52.212-1) from the date specified for receipt of offers. GSA desires consistent scope, terms and conditions in the basic contracts resulting from this solicitation, therefore, only one offer will be accepted from a single prime contractor for each Constellation and functional area pairing. Multiple or alternate offers from the same prime contractor constitutes a material nonconformity and will result in all of its offers being rejected.

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FAR 52.212-2 EVALUATION—COMMERCIAL ITEMS (JAN 1999)

(a) The Government will award contracts resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offerors whose offers, conforming to the solicitation, will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following approximately equal factors/criteria shall be used to evaluate offers:

1. RFP Requirements Compliance

2. Contract Administration Plan (CAP),

3. Marketing Action Plan (MAP),

4. Industry Credential (Constellation II only),

5. Past Performance,

6. Price, and

7. Responsibility

See the entirety of this Evaluation Section.

(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.

(End of provision)

FAR 52.216-1 TYPE OF CONTRACT (APR 1984)

The Government contemplates award of multiple award indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (MAIDIQ) Contracts.

FAR 52.216-27 SINGLE OR MULTIPLE AWARDS (OCT 1995)

The Government contemplates placing multiple awards resulting from this Solicitation, with the exact number depending upon the quality of the proposals received.

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FAR 52.233-2 SERVICE OF PROTEST (SEPT 2006)

(a) Protests, as defined in Section 33.101 of the FAR, that are filed directly with an agency, and copies of any protests that are filed with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) shall be served on the CO by obtaining written and dated acknowledgment of receipt from:

General Services Administration Attn: STARS II Contracting Officer (QTAAC) 1500 E. Bannister Road Kansas City, MO 64131

(b) The copy of any protest shall be received in the office designated above within one day of filing a protest with the GAO.

(End of Provision)

GSAM 552.233-70 PROTESTS FILED DIRECTLY WITH THE GENERAL SERVICES

ADMINISTRATION. (MAR 2000)

(a) The following definitions apply in this provision:

“Agency Protest Official for GSA” means the official in the Office of Acquisition

Policy designated to review and decide procurement protests filed with GSA.

“Deciding official” means the person chosen by the protester to decide the agency protest. The deciding official may be either the Contracting Officer or the Agency Protest Official.

(b) The filing time frames in FAR 33.103(e) apply. An agency protest is filed when the protest complaint is received at the location the solicitation designates for serving protests. GSA’s hours of operation are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Protests delivered after 4:30 p.m. will be considered received and filed the following business day.

(c) A protest filed directly with the General Services Administration (GSA) must:

(1) Indicate that it is a protest to the agency.

(2) Be filed with the Contracting Officer.

(3) State whether the protester chooses to have the Contracting Officer or the

Agency Protest Official for GSA decide the protest. If the protest is silent on this matter, the Contracting Officer will decide the protest.

(4) Indicate whether the protester prefers to make an oral presentation, a written presentation, or an oral presentation confirmed in writing, of arguments in support of the protest to the deciding official.

(5) Include the information required by FAR 33.103(d)(2):

(i) Name, address, fax number, and telephone number of the protester.

(ii) Solicitation or contract number.

(iii) Detailed statement of the legal and factual grounds for the protest, to include a description of resulting prejudice to the protester.

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(iv) Copies of relevant documents.

(v) Request for a ruling by the agency.

(vi) Statement as to the form of relief requested.

(vii) All information establishing that the protester is an interested party for the purpose of filing a protest.

(viii) All information establishing the timeliness of the protest (see paragraph (b) of this provision).

(d) An interested party filing a protest with GSA has the choice of requesting either that the Contracting Officer or the Agency Protest Official for GSA decide the protest.

(e) The decision by the Agency Protest Official for GSA is an alternative to a decision by the Contracting Officer. The Agency Protest Official for GSA will not consider appeals from the Contracting Officer’s decision on an agency protest.

(f) The deciding official must conduct a scheduling conference with the protester within three (3) days after the protest is filed. The scheduling conference will establish deadlines for oral or written arguments in support of the agency protest and for agency officials to present information in response to the protest issues. The deciding official may hear oral arguments in support of the agency protest at the same time as the scheduling conference, depending on availability of the necessary parties.

(g) Oral conferences may take place either by telephone or in person. Other parties (e.g., representatives of the program office) may attend at the discretion of the deciding official.

(h) The following procedures apply to information submitted in support of or in response to an agency protest:

(1) The protester and the agency have only one opportunity to support or explain the substance of the protest (either orally, in writing, or orally confirmed in writing).

(2) GSA procedures do not provide for any discovery.

(3) The deciding official has discretion to request additional information from either the agency or the protester. However, the deciding official will normally decide protests on the basis of information provided by the protester and the agency.

(4) Except as provided in paragraph (h)(5)(ii) of this provision, the parties are encouraged, but not required, to exchange information submitted to the Agency Protest Official for GSA.

(5) If the agency makes a written response to the protest, the following filing requirements apply:

(i) The agency must file its response to the protest with the deciding official within five (5) days after the filing of the protest.

(ii) The agency must also provide the protester with a copy of the response on the same day it files the response with the deciding official. If the agency believes it needs to redact or withhold any information in the response from the protester, it must obtain the approval of the deciding official.

(i) The deciding official will resolve the protest through informal presentations or meetings to the maximum extent practicable.

(j) An interested party may represent itself or be represented by legal counsel. GSA will not reimburse the party for any legal fees related to the agency protest.

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(k) GSA will stay award or suspend contract performance in accordance with FAR 33.103(f). The stay or suspension, unless over-ridden, remains in effect until the protest is decided, dismissed, or withdrawn.

(l) The deciding official will make a best effort to issue a decision on the protest within twenty-eight (28) days after the filing date. The decision may be oral or written. If the decision is communicated orally to the protester, the deciding official will confirm in writing within three (3) days after the decision.

(m) GSA may dismiss or stay proceedings on an agency protest if a protest on the same or similar basis is filed with a protest forum outside of GSA.

(End of provision)

1. GENERAL PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS

1.1. There are no projects assigned for STARS II. It is being established as an option for agencies to embrace in meeting their 8(a) procurement preference goals. Agencies will make their own decisions on the benefits of using this GWAC for IT requirements.

Warranted Contracting Officers wanting to use STARS II directly may do so. They are first required to complete delegation of procurement authority (DPA) training to effectively use the vehicle, whereupon they will be eligible for a DPA.

1.2. The Offeror shall follow these general proposal instructions. Non-compliance may result in the Offeror being ineligible for award. All proposal information is subject to verification by the Government.

1.3. In order to respond to the STARS II solicitation, offerors shall complete and submit as part of their offer the provisions in the FAR Full Text Provisions and Clauses Section calling for representations and certifications. In addition, offerors are hereby notified that the same or similar provisions may be implemented by Ordering Contracting Officers as new representations and certifications for STARS II task order opportunities.

1.4. Offerors shall assume that the Government has no prior knowledge of the offering entity whatsoever.

1.5. Much of the information in this section is organized by Constellation (a term of art for this solicitation and resulting contracts. See the Scope section for more information on Constellation and functional area (FA) structure.) Offerors are cautioned to ensure they keep track of the applicable Constellation and FA as they prepare and label a response to this solicitation.

1.6. Offerors are expected to examine the RFP and respond based upon an understanding of the entire solicitation document.

1.7. GSA intends to award Contracts without discussions. However, GSA reserves the right to conduct discussions and to permit offerors to revise their proposals if the Contracting Officer deems it is in the Government’s interest.

1.8. Only legal entities that are SBA 8(a) certified small business concerns at the time of submission of initial offer that includes pricing will be considered for award as prime contractors in this competitive process. GSA is not awarding subcontracts and doesn’t have privity of contract with subcontractors. There are special instructions for 8(a) joint-ventures later in this Evaluation section.

1.9. Offerors may choose to offer under one, or both, Constellations, and under one or more FAs. Offerors may not make their award in one Constellation contingent upon award in the other Constellation. Offerors may not make their award in any FA(s) contingent upon their award in any other FA(s). That would constitute a material nonconformity in the effected Constellations and/or FAs and those offers would be summarily rejected. Offerors must propose in each Constellation and FA combination in which they wish to be considered. In no event will an offeror be considered for a Constellation and FA combination for which it did not specifically submit an offer.

For example, if an offeror only submits a proposal for Constellation II, FA2 and is determined unacceptable because it fails to provide clear and convincing proof that it possesses at least one of the required industry credentials, it will not be further considered for FA2 in Constellation I.

1.10. Complex or costly presentations are neither required nor desired. The completeness, relevance, clarity and conciseness of the proposal pursuant to the Evaluation Section will be important, not the length.

2. PARROTING/CONCLUSORY PROPOSALS

2.1. Mere promises to comply with Contractual requirements are not sufficient.

Proposals should not simply parrot back the requirements, but provide convincing salient documentary evidence in support of any conclusory statements relating to promised performance. A lack of effort in the proposal as evidenced by “parroting” reflects upon the offeror’s ability and willingness to follow instructions and fulfill its obligations, and may be deemed a significant proposal weakness or proposal deficiency.

3. FAILURE TO RESPOND IN FULL

3.1. Lack of submission of any item required by the Evaluation Section will automatically result in a material nonconformity and the offer will be summarily rejected

4. NEWS RELEASES

4.1. The Contractor shall not make any news release pertaining to this procurement without prior written STARS II Contracting Officer approval.

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5. PROPOSAL PREPARATION COSTS

5.1. The Government will not reimburse Offerors for any cost incurred for the preparation, amendment or submission of a proposal in response to this solicitation.

6. ELECTRONIC COPY OF PROPOSAL (NO PAPER)

6.1. Offerors shall submit one (1) electronic proposal, according to the specific proposal instructions in this Section. With the exception of the past performance surveys, paper proposals will be disregarded. All information shall be provided on CD-R (not CD-RW) compact discs, using Microsoft Word 2003 (.doc format) and Microsoft Excel 2003 (.xls format) compatible and/or Adobe Acrobat 7.0 format. Pricing shall be submitted using the RFP’s Pricing Worksheet in Microsoft Excel 2003 (.xls format). All CD-R compact disc(s) shall be labeled with the solicitation number, company name and date. Offerors shall ensure that all discs are virus free. Nothing may be on the discs except the proposal files. If a submitted disc contains a virus, trojan, worm, spybot or other form of malware, the offer will be summarily rejected.

7. PROPRIETARY DATA

7.1. Offerors submitting proprietary data will mark them as follows in accordance with the requirements of FAR 52.215-1(e) (JAN 2004), which is incorporated by reference.

FAR 52.215-1(e) (JAN 2004) states:

7.2. "Offerors or quoters who include in their proposals or quotations data that they do not want disclosed to the public for any purpose or used by the Government except for evaluation purposes, shall:

(a) Mark the title page with the following legend:

This proposal or quotation includes data that shall not be disclosed outside the Government and shall not be duplicated, used or disclosed in whole or in part for any purpose other than to evaluate this proposal or quotation. If, however, a Contract is awarded to this Offeror or quoter as a result of or in connection with the submission of this data, the Government shall have the right to duplicate, use, or disclose the data to the extent provided in the resulting Contract. This restriction does not limit the Government's right to use information contained in this data if it is obtained from another source without restriction. The data subject to the restriction is contained in sheets (insert numbers or other identification of sheets).

(b) Mark each sheet of data it wishes to restrict with the following legend:

Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this proposal or quotation.”

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8. PROPOSAL FORMAT AND LIMITATIONS

8.1. Offerors shall use the following format:

(a) Page size shall be 8.5 x 11 inches;

(b) Pages shall be single-spaced;

(c) The font size shall be no less than twelve (12) point except for tables, charts, graphs and figures, which shall be no smaller than eight (8) point; text in “screen shot”, intended for representation of the actual item, are exempt from font size requirements when there is accompanying text explaining them;

(d) Top and bottom margins shall be at least one-inch. Margins may contain a disclaimer regarding proprietary information in the footer and provide corporate logos in the header within the one-inch top and bottom margins. Side margins shall be at least ¾-inch;

(e) Tables, charts, graphs and figures may be used wherever practical to depict systems and layout, implementation schedules and plans;

(f) Pages should be numbered to support review; and

(f) A page refers to a single side of an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper.

9. PROPOSAL DUE DATE, PACKAGING AND DISTRIBUTION

9.1. Proposals are due no later than 2:30 P.M., Central Time Zone, on Wednesday, September 2, 2009. All of the offeror’s proposals for all FAs and Constellations proposed upon must be submitted in a single common outer package to the address below. Failure to properly address the outer cover of an offer may cause the delivery of the offer to be late and thereby rejected. This is the only method by which proposals will be accepted.

General Services Administration Office of Business & Support Services (6ADB) 1500 E. Bannister Road, Room 1161 Kansas City, MO 64131 Attention: STARS II Contracting Officer

9.2. Each offer/proposal (all required items from an offeror for all Constellations and FAs applied for) must be submitted in the single common outer package mentioned above.

Offerors are cautioned that the Government will not attempt to assemble separate packages into an integrated whole. A contractor needing to change anything, even one

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page or one word, in a submitted offer must resubmit the new offer in its totality and properly withdraw the previous offer.

9.3. The Government shall not assume that the order of receipt of offers from an offeror denotes/has any meaning or intent.

9.4. Multiple/alternate offers from the same prime contractor constitute a material nonconformity and will result in all of its offers being summarily rejected.

9.5. In addition to the main offer, out of an abundance of caution, Offerors sometimes send in duplicate/identical offers by different methods to facilitate timely delivery. Such duplicate offers shall be clearly labeled as a “DUPLICATE OFFER” on the offer packaging and on the face of the duplicate disc(s) so that the Government won’t have to guess at the offeror’s intent, which would lead to a finding of material nonconformity and result in all of its offers being summarily rejected. Time is of the essence for the community of interests involved in a competition such as this. Even if it is possible, the Government simply can not slow the process down to determine if two offers from the same offeror which seem to apparently be for the same thing, are identical or not. An offeror’s failure to clearly mark offers that are duplicates with the designated label “DUPLICATE OFFER” on the outer packaging of the duplicate offer(s) and the face of the duplicate disc(s) constitutes a material nonconformity and will result in all of its offers being summarily rejected. By the preceding statements, we are explicitly raising the prescribed labeling requirement from what might be argued is a matter of “form”, to one that is materially substantive in that it reflects upon the offeror’s ability and willingness to follow instructions and fulfill its obligations.

9.6. An offeror choosing to withdraw an earlier timely submitted offer and replace it with a new timely submitted one must do so completely, and not piecemeal. The new offer shall clearly indicate its standing relative to any existing offer on the common outer package and on the face of the disc(s) so the Government won’t have to guess at the offeror’s intent, which would lead to a finding of material nonconformity and all of its offers being summarily rejected. The Government does not intend to read through offers to compare and interpret which might be the most viable candidate for “newest offer status” or otherwise. An offeror’s failure to clearly mark an offer that it wishes to replace another one with by designating its standing relative to any existing offer as enumerated above constitutes a material nonconformity and will result in all of its offers being summarily rejected. By the preceding statements, we are explicitly raising the prescribed labeling requirement from what might be argued is a matter of “form”, to one that is materially substantive in that it reflects upon the offeror’s ability and willingness to follow instructions and fulfill its obligations.

9.7. Please complete your due diligence and afford plenty of time to timely submit an offer.

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10. DISPOSITION OF PROPOSALS

10.1. Each proposal will be dispositioned by the Government pursuant to its records policy.

11. SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR 8(a) JOINT-VENTURES

11.1. 8(a) joint-ventures entail special considerations based upon 13 CFR 124.513 and related regulations. Parties interested in forming an 8(a) joint-venture should perform due diligence on the requirements of forming an 8(a) joint-venture and coordinate with their servicing SBA office in order to understand responsibilities and expectations.

11.2. The joint-venture agreement satisfying the SBA program requirements shall be submitted with the offer. Failure to submit a copy of the joint-venture agreement with the offer shall result in the offer being summarily rejected. Joint-venture offers must be made in the name of the joint-venture entity. The joint-venture agreement must identify the 8(a) managing venturer, the joint-venture members and who will have signature authority on behalf of the joint-venture. The party signing the offer for the joint-venture should be listed as having such authority. Except for verification of each joint-venture members size status, it is the joint-venture as a whole, and not the individual members that submits the information required of offerors. Said another way, a joint-venture needs to provide the proposal information as a combined business entity, not individually. The experience and past performance of qualifying joint-venture members automatically inheres to the combined joint-venture business entity. The managing venturer and each joint-venture member shall submit separate certifications and representations mandated by the solicitation. Since this is a multiple-award IDIQ procurement, we consider the “dollar value of the procurement” to be the cumulative estimated value of the multiple award contracts including options, which is $10 billion.

12. ADDITIONAL JOINT-VENTURE INSTRUCTIONS FOR SBA 8(A) MENTOR-

PROTÉGÉ ARRANGEMENTS

12.1. Each Offeror relying upon its status in an SBA approved mentor-protégé relationship [13 CFR 121.103(h)(3)(iii) and 13 CFR 124.520] shall submit clear and convincing evidence of that SBA approved relationship with its Offer.

12.2. Because GSA is relying on the SBA approved Mentor-Protégé agreement/arrangement document for evaluation purposes, failure to provide a copy with the Offer shall result in the Offer being summarily rejected. GSA is not obligated to acquire this information for an offeror.

12.3. Only SBA 8(a) Mentor-Protégé arrangements will be considered for award as a Mentor-Protégé prime contractor pairing, as only SBA 8(a) Mentor-Protégé duos are applicable federal Government wide.

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13. POINT OF CONTACT FOR STARS II SOLICITATION

13.1. The STARS II Contracting Officer is the sole point of contact for this acquisition.

Address any questions or concerns to the STARS II Contracting Officer. Written requests for clarification may be sent via e-mail to the PCO at S2@gsa.gov. Official RFP documentation, including RFP amendments, and other related information are only available at FedBizOpps, www.fedbizopps.gov

14. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

14.1. The Government may use the services of contractors, including the Spencer Reed Group, in administrative support of the Contracting Officer.

15. ORGANIZING THE OFFER

15.1. The Scope Section describes the Constellation and FA structure of the STARS II GWAC, which is summarized in the table below.

Constellation and Functional Area Taxonomy

FA1

NAICS

541511

FA2

541512

FA3

541513

FA4

541519

Constellation I

Technical Proficiency and Competitive Prices

X X X X

Constellation II

ISO 9001:2000

or

ISO 9001:2008

or CMMI Level II (or higher) - DEV or CMMI Level II (or higher) - SVC with Technical Proficiency and Competitive Prices

X X X X

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15.2. The following tables show the manner in which GSA requires offerors to organize the electronic offer(s). The folders and subfolders directly correspond to offer materials that are further described below.

COMPACT DISC: Constellation I CAP (one CAP per Constellation) & the completed SF 1449 MAP (one MAP per Constellation) Filled-In Clauses & Provisions Responsibility FA1 (if offering in FA1) Past Performance (FA specific completed surveys and summary) Pricing (FA specific) FA2 (if offering in FA2) Past Performance (FA specific completed surveys and summary) Pricing (FA specific) FA3 (if offering in FA3) Past Performance (FA specific completed surveys and summary) Pricing (FA specific) FA4 (if offering in FA4) Past Performance (FA specific completed surveys and summary) Pricing (FA specific)

COMPACT DISC: Constellation II CAP (one CAP per Constellation) & the completed SF 1449 MAP (one MAP per Constellation) Filled-In Clauses & Provisions Industry Credential Responsibility FA1 (if offering in FA1) Past Performance (FA specific completed surveys and summary) Pricing (FA specific) FA2 (if offering in FA2) Past Performance (FA specific completed surveys and summary) Pricing (FA specific) FA3 (if offering in FA3) Past Performance (FA specific completed surveys and summary) Pricing (FA specific) FA4 (if offering in FA4) Past Performance (FA specific completed surveys and summary) Pricing (FA specific)

15.3. Per instructions above about common outer packaging for proposals, it is acceptable that offerors pursuing more than one Constellation submit both discs together but be advised, all documentation (including the disc(s)) must be CLEARLY LABELED with the OFFEROR NAME, CONSTELLATION I (“C1”) and FA(s) OR CONSTELLATION II (“C2”) and FA(s), respectively.

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15.4. GSA intends to look in the designated folders and subfolders for proposal content that is suppose to be there. GSA does not intend to look in alternate folders/subfolders to find missing information.

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A. CONSTELLATION I

A.1. METHOD OF CONTRACT AWARD

A.1.1. The Government intends to make multiple awards under Constellation I and under each of the four Functional Areas to those responsible offerors whose proposals comply with all the solicitation requirements, and are evaluated as technically acceptable, receive favorable financial evaluation and the Government has been able to determine the price fair and reasonable.

A.1.2. In accordance with FAR 52.212-1, the Government reserves the right to award on the basis of initial proposals without holding discussions. However, the Government reserves the right to conduct discussions.

A.1.3. The Government reserves the right to proceed with awards within FAs in sequences of its choosing, and to proceed with awards within FAs that do not require clarifications or certificates of competency.

A.2. EVALUATION CRITERIA

A.2.1. In order to be eligible for award, an offer must conform to the RFP requirements and be evaluated as technically acceptable with a fair and reasonable evaluated price determination. An offer that is deemed unacceptable by the Government on any (even a single) evaluation criterion is ineligible for award.

A.2.2. The approximately equal evaluation criteria for award are:

3. Marketing Action Plan (MAP),

4. Past Performance,

5. Price, and

6. Responsibility

A.3. COMPLIANCE WITH THE RFP REQUIREMENTS

A.3.1. An offer will be deemed compliant when it is obvious to the Government that the offer, without exception or imposition of condition, unconditionally agrees to the terms and conditions of this RFP.

A.3.2. An offer will be deemed noncompliant, further evaluations will cease and the offer will be ineligible for Contract award if it: (a) takes exception to any of the terms and conditions of the RFP, or (b) imposes additional conditions, or (c) omits material information required by the RFP.

A.4. CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION PLAN (CAP)

A.4.1. The CAP will be deemed Acceptable if it clearly and convincingly demonstrates, in twenty (20) pages or less, adequate assurance of the offeror’s of ability and plans to

1) fulfill the scope through contract compliant subcontracting risk mitigation and management and 2) perform contract reporting responsibilities identified in the Contract Administration Section.

A.4.2. The CAP will be deemed Unacceptable if the offeror fails to clearly and convincingly provide, in twenty (20) pages or less, adequate assurance of 1) planning for and being able to carry out subcontracting risk mitigation and management, and 2) contract reporting responsibilities identified in the Contract Administration Section.

Conclusory statements without support are not acceptable (see previous ‘parroting” caution) and/or a compliance matrix are insufficient to be deemed acceptable, and will result in the offer being unacceptable and ineligible for further evaluation.

A.5. MARKETING ACTION PLAN (MAP)

A.5.1.The MAP will be Acceptable when it completely, thoroughly, clearly and convincingly provides, in twenty (20) pages or less, a marketing strategy for the 8(a) STARS II contract demonstrating 1) understanding of the roles and relationships of the Small Business GWAC Center and 8(a) STARS II industry partners (offerors may refer to www.gsa.gov/8astars for context), 2) the differences between and value propositions of Direct Acquisitions and Assisted Acquisitions, 3) a plan for socioeconomic-based marketing to federal customers, 4) a plan for core-competency-based marketing to federal customers and 5) a contract life cycle savvy outline of offeror achievable short range (1 year) and mid-range plans (2-4 years) to maximize its opportunities under 8(a) STARS II.

A.5.2. The MAP will be used for evaluation purposes only. The MAP will not be incorporated in the resulting 8(a) STARS II contract.

A.5.3. The MAP will be Unacceptable when it fails to provide, in twenty (20) pages or less, a marketing strategy for the 8(a) STARS II contract satisfying all of the preceding five (5) MAP topics.

A.6. PAST PERFORMANCE

A.6.1. Recent past contractual performance can shed light on the reliability of an offeror.

It provides a basis for making an assessment of the probability that an offeror will do what it has promised to do in future contractual performance. Offerors having consistently satisfied their contractual customers are likely to satisfy future ones as well.

The burden of providing thorough, organized and complete past performance information rests with the offeror. Offerors shall presume no Government employees have personal knowledge of any offeror.

A.6.1. Dun and Bradstreet Open Ratings reports are not required or desired.

A.6.2. Offerors may submit (up to) a six (6) page summary per FA (per Constellation) describing their past performance efforts. This six (6) page summary is intended to be open-ended for Offerors to provide whatever information they believe may be relevant to the Government as it evaluates its proposal under the Past Performance Evaluation factor.

A.6.3. The past performance for a given FA will Qualify when two recent, similar, favorable examples (per FA) of the offering prime contractor’s successful project completion are demonstrated using the past performance survey attachment. Do not furnish past performance of offeror’s subcontractors. Offerors are responsible for submitting completed past performance surveys in the electronic proposal(s).

• To be considered recent, each project must have been completed no more than two (2) years prior to the original offer deadline.

• To be considered similar, each project must be valued above $100,000 and clearly demonstrate and each primarily consists of work associated with the FA.

• To be considered favorable, the offeror must demonstrate that it has an acceptable or higher past performance record.

A.6.4. Offerors shall not assume GSA has any Past Performance records at hand and shall not assume any member of GSA has personal knowledge of the offeror’s past performance.

A.6.5. GSA will consider commercial and exclusively federal Past Performance equally.

GSA reserves the right to verify Past Performance provided and may use broad discretion in considering additional Past Performance sources, such as the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS, www.ppirs.gov). GSA retains the right to validate the sources and content of past performance survey information.

A.6.6. If the joint-venture is formed through an SBA approved 8(a) mentor-protégé arrangement, only the past performance in which the mentor and protégé participated together is eligible, and will still be subject to the gamut of the past performance evaluation. That being said, past performance examples where the protégé completed work outside the mentor-protégé arrangement will also be evaluated, subject to the gamut of the past performance evaluation.

A.6.7. A neutral rating for past contractual performance is possible if there is a TOTAL ABSENCE of qualifying past contractual performance information, and not a failure to submit even a single instance of qualifying past contractual performance information that does exist. GSA reserves the right to consider additional past performance based upon its broad discretion.

A.6.8. Failure to submit qualifying past contractual performance information when it exists shall be deemed a material nonconformity and result in the offer being summarily rejected.

A.6.9. GSA intends to implement the assignment of neutral past performance ratings consistent with the exclusion/exclusionary approach identified in Metcalf Construction Company, Inc., v. The United States and Lend Lease ACTUS (Intervenor), COFC No.

02-5C, September 24, 2002 (Metcalf).

A.7. PRICE EVALUATIONS

A.7.1. Each offeror shall propose ceiling fully burdened labor rates, a/k/a “ceiling rates” in the pricing schedules for ALL labor categories and all contract periods under each Functional Area for which the offeror is proposing. Offerors shall use the MS-Excel Pricing Worksheet (a/k/a “Worksheet”) for this purpose. The only alterations to the Worksheet should be the placement/completion of ceiling rates by the offeror in the designated locations. The offeror completed worksheet shall be submitted to GSA in MS-Excel 2003 format. Any other format may be unreadable by GSA and will result in the pricing not being considered, resulting in a material non-conformity and ineligibility in the functional area(s).

A.7.2. The Worksheet reflects a desire for geographically-focused/locality-based ceiling rates. GSA believes that geographically-honed ceiling rates will add significant value to STARS II. The geographic localities are the same as those in the 2008 General Schedule locality area definitions listed at:

http://www.opm.gov/flsa/oca/08tables/indexGS.asp

A.7.3. There is a tab in the Worksheet showing Pricing Guideline Coefficients (PGCs) alongside locality areas. The PGCs were calculated by looking at differentials in the pay scales of the General Schedule (GS) locality areas. GSA intends to utilize each locality area’s PGC as a measure of price differentials between localities. While not deterministic of price reasonableness, the PGCs will be used (and considered) during the evaluation of the competitiveness of offered pricing. GSA will also be sharing the PGCs in the STARS II Ordering Guide as they may be useful in assessing task order labor rate pricing also.

A.7.4. FAILURE TO OFFER CEILING RATES FOR ALL LABOR CATEGORIES, IN

ALL LOCALITIES, AND FOR ALL CONTRACT PERIODS UNDER THE

FUNCTIONAL AREA(S) PROPOSED SHALL RESULT IN OFFER INELIGIBILITY IN

THE FUNCTIONAL AREA(S) IN WHICH THE OMISSION OCCURS. THIS MEANS

THAT THE OMISSION OF A RATE FOR JUST A SINGLE LABOR CATEGORY WILL

RESULT IN A MATERIAL NON-CONFORMITY IN THE AFFECTED FA.

EVALUATION

For instance, Offeror XYZ proposes in both constellations, all functional areas and leaves a single CLIN empty on the pricing schedule in Constellation I in Functional Area 3, resulting in its offer for Constellation I, FA 3 being ineligible for further consideration. However, XYZ’s remaining offers continue to be evaluated.

A.7.5. The offeror’s proposed ceiling rates will be evaluated consistent with FAR 15.4.

In no event will the Government agree to an individual item price or rate that is unreasonable, even if the arithmetic is satisfactory in the price evaluation case.

Therefore, unconscionably high and/or low labor rates are very undesirable.

OFFERORS TAKE HEED - EVEN A SINGLE UNCONSCIONABLY HIGH LABOR

RATE ON A SINGLE CLIN IN A SINGLE YEAR SHALL RESULT IN OFFER

REJECTION.

A.7.6. All line items must stand alone and not be dependent upon the ordering of any other line items. Making ceiling rates dependent upon additional conditions not contemplated in the solicitation will amount to a material nonconformity and will result in offer rejection

A.7.7. Constellation I and II pricing is independent. GSA will not apply Constellation I pricing to Constellation II, or vice-versa, when evaluating an offeror’s proposal.

A.7.8. Because GSA intends to evaluate offers inclusive of the option period, the total evaluated price that will be used in the price evaluation case will be the Base Period extended/grand total (which, if utilized properly, the Worksheet will calculate for the offeror) plus the Option Period extended/grand total. Offerors are reminded of the Basic Contract escalation methodology established for the Basic Contract Option in the Pricing Section. To establish the Option Period extended/grant total that will be evaluated, year five (5) ceiling rates will be consistently applied for years six (6) – ten

(10) too.

A.7.9. The Government will pay particularly close attention to the offered year five (5) ceiling rates. If the Government detects significant risk resulting from unbalanced pricing in year five (5) ceiling rates/an offeror attempting to ”buy in” in order to have a more favorable evaluated pricing for the Option Period that GSA believes might jeopardize performance, those offers may be rejected on that basis alone.

A.8. RESPONSIBILITY

A.8.1. Responsibility determinations shall be conducted consistent with the Federal Acquisition Regulations. Each offeror shall initially submit with its offer a Professional Compensation Plan and its policy on Uncompensated Overtime which will be evaluated as a matter of offeror responsibility. Apparently successful offerors will later also undergo a financial responsibility determination.

EVALUATION

A.8.2. The Government is concerned with the quality and stability of the work force to be employed on this contract. Because it may impair the Offeror’s ability to attract and retain competent professional service employees, professional compensation that is unrealistically low or not in reasonable relationship to the various job categories may be viewed as evidence of failure to comprehend the complexity of the contract requirements. The basic contract labor categories are for professional employees, inclusive of Government and contractor site, who will work under this contract. Offerors shall submit a total compensation plan setting forth their salary ranges and fringe benefits proposed. Offerors shall not identify specific subcontractors in this information.

If the Offeror does not currently have employees to correlate a specific labor category or labor categories, the Offeror must explain its methodology for establishing labor rates for such labor categories. Supporting information may include data such as recognized national and regional compensation surveys and studies of professional, public and private organizations, used in establishing the total compensation structure.

A.8.3. Each Offeror shall include a copy of its policy addressing uncompensated overtime with its proposal.

A.8.4. Apparent successful Offerors will later receive a financial responsibility evaluation in accordance with FAR Subpart 9.1. Firms selected for award consideration may be asked to supply a completed GSA Form 527, Contractor Qualification and Financial Information as part of the Government’s responsibility determination. (View form at the following website: www.gsa.gov/forms.) This is not required as part of the proposal package subject to the response deadline; however, Offerors must be prepared to respond to following requests for information within three (3) calendar days of the Government’s request:

(a) Ownership Information;

(b) Government Financial Aid and Indebtedness;

(c) Financial Statements; and

(d) Income Statement, and Banking and Finance Company Information.

EVALUATION

B. CONSTELLATION II

B.1. METHOD OF CONTRACT AWARD

B.1.1. The Government intends to make multiple awards under Constellation I and under each of the four Functional Areas to those responsible offerors whose proposals comply with all the solicitation requirements, and are evaluated as technically acceptable, receive favorable financial evaluation and the Government has been able to determine the price fair and reasonable.

B.1.2. In accordance with FAR 52.212-1, the Government reserves the right to award on the basis of initial proposals without holding discussions. However, the Government reserves the right to conduct discussions.

B.1.3. The Government reserves the right to proceed with awards within FAs in sequences of its choosing, and to proceed with awards within FAs that do not require clarifications or certificates of competency.

B.2. EVALUATION CRITERIA

B.2.1. In order to be eligible for award, an offer must conform to the RFP requirements and be evaluated as technically acceptable with a fair and reasonable evaluated price determination. An offer that is deemed unacceptable by the Government on any (even a single) evaluation criterion is ineligible for award.

B.2.2. The approximately equal evaluation criteria for award are:

3. Marketing Action Plan (MAP),

4. Industry Credential,

5. Past Performance,

6. Price, and

7. Responsibility

B.3. COMPLIANCE WITH THE RFP REQUIREMENTS

B.3.1. An offer will be deemed compliant when it is obvious to the Government that the offer, without exception or imposition of condition, unconditionally agrees to the terms and conditions of this RFP.

B.3.2. An offer will be deemed noncompliant, further evaluations will cease and the offer will be ineligible for Contract award if it: (a) takes exception to any of the terms and conditions of the RFP, or (b) imposes additional conditions, or (c) omits material information required by the RFP.

EVALUATION

B.4. CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION PLAN (CAP)

B.4.1. The CAP will be deemed Acceptable if it clearly and convincingly demonstrates, in twenty (20) pages or less, adequate assurance of the offeror’s of ability and plans to

1) fulfill the scope through contract compliant subcontracting risk mitigation and management and 2) perform contract reporting responsibilities identified in the Contract Administration Section.

B.4.2. The CAP will be deemed Unacceptable if the offeror fails to clearly and convincingly provide, in twenty (20) pages or less, adequate assurance of 1) planning for and being able to carry out subcontracting risk mitigation and management, and 2) contract reporting responsibilities identified in the Contract Administration Section.

Conclusory statements without support are not acceptable (see previous ‘parroting” caution) and/or a compliance matrix are insufficient to be deemed acceptable, and will result in the offer being unacceptable and ineligible for further evaluation.

B.5. MARKETING ACTION PLAN (MAP)

B.5.1. The MAP will be Acceptable when it completely, thoroughly, clearly and convincingly provides, in twenty (20) pages or less, a marketing strategy for the 8(a) STARS II contract demonstrating 1) understanding of the roles and relationships of the Small Business GWAC Center and 8(a) STARS II industry partners (offerors may refer to www.gsa.gov/8astars for context), 2) the differences between and value propositions of Direct Acquisitions and Assisted Acquisitions, 3) a plan for socioeconomic-based marketing to federal customers, 4) a plan for core-competency-based marketing to federal customers and 5) a contract life cycle savvy outline of offeror achievable short range (1 year) and mid-range plans (2-4 years) to maximize its opportunities under 8(a) STARS II.

B.5.2. The MAP will be used for evaluation purposes only. The MAP will not be incorporated in the resulting 8(a) STARS II contract.

B.5.3. The MAP will be Unacceptable when it fails to provide, in twenty (20) pages or less, a marketing strategy for the 8(a) STARS II contract satisfying all of the preceding five (5) MAP topics.

B.6. INDUSTRY CREDENTIAL

B.6.1. In order for an offeror to be considered for an award in Constellation II, the offeror must possess one or more of the following four (4) credentials:

ISO 9001:2000

ISO 9001:2008

CMMI Level II (or higher) – DEV CMMI Level II (or higher) – SVC

EVALUATION

B.6.2. There is no additional evaluation value given to an offeror who presents proof of possessing more than one of the identified credentials as this evaluation criterion is simply measured as acceptable or unacceptable. These credentials are widely accepted commercial demonstrations that certified organizations have formalized business processes.

B.6.3. Constellation II offerors must possess and demonstrate clear and convincing proof of at least one of the above credentials at the time of initial offer submission including pricing. In an 8(a) joint-venture it is the 8(a) managing venturer that must possess the industry credential.

B.6.4. Regarding 8(a) Mentor – Protégé joint venture offerors: a Mentor’s industry credential(s) will apply to the protégé during evaluation of offers.

B.7. PAST PERFORMANCE

B.7.1. Recent past contractual performance can shed light on the reliability of an offeror.

It provides a basis for making an assessment of the probability that an offeror will do what it has promised to do in future contractual performance. Offerors having consistently satisfied their contractual customers are likely to satisfy future ones as well.

The burden of providing thorough, organized and complete past performance information rests with the offeror. Offerors shall presume no Government employees have personal knowledge of any offeror.

B.7.2. Dun and Bradstreet Open Ratings reports are not required or desired.

B.7.3. Offerors may submit (up to) a six (6) page summary per FA (per Constellation) describing their past performance efforts. This six (6) page summary is intended to be open-ended for Offerors to provide whatever information they believe may be relevant to the Government as it evaluates its proposal under the Past Performance Evaluation factor.

B.7.4. The past performance for a given FA will Qualify when two recent, similar, favorable examples (per FA) of the offering prime contractor’s successful project completion are demonstrated using the past performance survey. Do not furnish past performance of offeror’s subcontractors. Offerors are responsible for submitting completed past performance surveys in the electronic proposal(s).

• To be considered recent, each project must have been completed no more than two (2) years prior to the original offer deadline.

• To be considered similar, each project must be valued above $100,000 and clearly demonstrate and each primarily consists of work associated with the FA.

EVALUATION

• To be considered favorable, the offeror must demonstrate that it has an acceptable or higher past performance record.

B.7.5. Offerors shall not assume GSA has any Past Performance records at hand and shall not assume any member of GSA has personal knowledge of the offeror’s past performance.

B.7.6. GSA will consider commercial and exclusively federal Past Performance equally.

GSA reserves the right to verify Past Performance provided and may use broad discretion in considering additional Past Performance sources, such as the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS, www.ppirs.gov). GSA retains the right to validate the sources and content of past performance survey information.

B.7.7. If the joint-venture is formed through an SBA approved 8(a) mentor-protégé arrangement, only the past performance in which the mentor and protégé participated together is eligible, and will still be subject to the gamut of the past performance evaluation. That being said, past performance examples where the protégé completed work outside the mentor-protégé arrangement will also be evaluated, subject to the gamut of the past performance evaluation.

B.7.8.