RFP - ASOS Battery IDIQ - 13 Dec 22.docx

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP)

1305M223RNWWG0003

Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) Battery Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity Solicitation

U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Eastern Acquisition Division (EAD) 200 Granby Street, Suite 815 Norfolk, VA 23510

13 December 2022

COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. The government intends to award a single award firm fixed price indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract from this solicitation.

The Request for Proposal (RFP) document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2022-08; Effective 10/28/2022.

This requirement is for the acquisition of commercial supply of batteries as specified in this solicitation for the Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) for use by the National Weather Service (NWS).

The Request for Proposal (RFP) number for this acquisition is 1305M223RNWWG0003 and shall be used to reference any written proposal provided under this RFP.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this project is 335910 with a size standard of 1,250 employees. *Please note NAICS codes were updated on 1 October 2022. The previously used NAICS code to 335910 was 335911.

This acquisition is a set-aside for 100% woman owned small business (WOSB). *Please note that SAM.gov’s list for WOSB was not updated to the most recently approved SBA WOSB program NAICS list which added NAICS 335910 (http://www.sba.gov/wosb). As such, it was left blank on the SAM.gov entry and is highlighted on this combined synopsis as a result.

This acquisition will be competed using a written Request for Proposal (RFP). All interested parties must provide a proposal package by the time specified below to the Government in order to be considered for award. Proposal packages shall include all data and information requested and shall be submitted in accordance with the instructions found in "Instructions to Offeror" (FAR 52.212-1 and Addendum to 52.212-1). Non-conformance with the instructions may result in proposal considered non-responsive and ineligible for award.

The provision at 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Products and Commercial Services, applies to this acquisition.

The clause at 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Products and Commercial Services, applies to this acquisition.

The clause at 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Products and Commercial Services, applies to this acquisition.

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS: All prospective awardees are required to register at the System for Award Management (SAM) and to maintain active registration during the life of the contract. SAM can be accessed at sam.gov.

DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENT

The Government intends to award a single award firm fixed price indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract with five (5) one (1) year ordering periods. Delivery orders will be issued after award of the base IDIQ as requirements are identified and as funding becomes available.

The offeror shall provide batteries meeting or being compatible with National Stock Number (NSN) 6140-01-389-6178 characteristics.

During the contract lifecycle, the Government shall place delivery orders totaling a minimum of $25,000.00. The amount of all delivery orders shall not exceed $1,250,000.00, or Contractor’s total proposed price, whichever is higher.

PRICE SCHEDULE

The contract lifecycle shall be from 1 March 2023 to 28 February 2027. The below Price Schedule is an estimate of the quantities needed to perform future delivery orders:

ORDERING PERIOD 1: 1 March 2023 to 28 February 2023

QUANTITY

ORDERING PERIOD 2: 1 March 2024 to 29 February 2024

QUANTITY

ORDERING PERIOD 3: 1 March 2025 to 28 February 2025

QUANTITY

ORDERING PERIOD 4: 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2026

QUANTITY

ORDERING PERIOD 5: 1 March 2027 to 28 February 2027

QUANTITY

*Note: In accordance with FAR 52.217-6, the Government may increase the quantity of supplies by 1,000 at the unit price specified in the schedule at the time the option is exercised

ADDENDUMS:

52.212-1, INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS – COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS AND COMMERCIAL SERVICES (Addendum)

PROPOSAL PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS

1. This is a competitive simplified acquisition selection conducted in accordance with (IAW) Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13. Contracts awarded under FAR 13 are not subject to FAR 15.3 procedures. Accordingly, award of a contract under this RFP, should an award be made, shall follow the procedures outlined in FAR 13, as supplemented.

2. The proposal submitted in response to this RFP must be in compliance with the terms and conditions stated in the RFP and attachments. All claimed capabilities to meet the requirements shall be shall be fully documented and are subject to verification by the Government. Non-conformance with these instructions may result in rejection of the proposal or an unfavorable proposal evaluation or being deemed ineligible for award. The Contracting Officer (CO) will select the lowest price technically acceptable submission which conforms to the RFP requirements (to include all stated terms, conditions, representations, certifications, and all other information required by the submission instructions).

3. Offerors must clearly identify any exception to RFP terms and conditions and must provide complete supporting rationale. The Government reserves the right to determine any such exceptions are unacceptable. Any exception determined unacceptable by the Government may result in the Offeror’s proposal being determined unacceptable and ineligible for award.

4. The proposal shall be clear, concise, and shall include sufficient detail for effective evaluation and for substantiating the validity of stated claims. The proposal should not simply rephrase or restate the Government's requirements but, rather, shall provide convincing rationale to address how the Offeror intends to meet these requirements. Offerors shall assume that the Government has no prior knowledge of their facilities or experience and will base its evaluation on the information presented in the Offeror's proposal.

5. Discrepancies. If an Offeror believes that the requirements in these instructions contain an error, omission, or are otherwise unsound, the Offeror shall immediately notify the CO in writing with supporting rationale as well as the remedies the Offeror is asking the CO to consider as related to the omission or error. This notification shall be before the solicitation Question submission period specified in Paragraph #11 in this section.

6. The Contracting Officer has determined there is a high probability of adequate price competition in this acquisition. Upon examination of the initial offers, the contracting officer will review this determination and if, in the contracting officer's opinion, adequate price competition exists no additional data will be requested. However, if at any time during this competition the contracting officer determines that adequate price competition no longer exists; offerors may be required to submit uncertified cost/price data to the extent necessary for the contracting officer to determine the reasonableness of price.

7. Specific Instructions: The Offeror agrees to hold the prices in its offer for 90 calendar days from the date specified for receipt of offers. Complete the necessary fill-ins and certifications in provisions incorporated into the solicitation 1305M223RNWWG0003 by full text and return along with the proposal.

8. Offerors submitting a proposal in response to this RFP shall submit a Technical (Part I) and Price (Part II) proposal. Text shall be single-spaced, on an 8 ½ x 11 sheets with a minimum one-inch margin all around. Font shall be no less than Times New Roman 10 pt. Pages shall be numbered consecutively within each part. The page limits prescribed are maximum page limits for each part. When both sides of a sheet display printed material, it shall be counted as two (2) pages. Cover page, tables of contents, cross-reference matrix, tabs, and glossaries shall not be counted against prescribed page limits. Pages submitted more than these limits will not be read or considered in the Government’s evaluation of the proposal. All proposal information shall be submitted in either MS Word or PDF format except for Pricing Information (Part II). Pricing information shall be submitted in MS Excel format. Each part shall be submitted as a separately labeled electronic file. Offerors must ensure that pricing information is only included in Part II. Do NOT include any Pricing information in Part I. All unit and extended prices provided shall be rounded to the nearest dollar. Extended prices must be divisible by the number of units proposed. Submit your proposal electronically in accordance with the table below. All electronic submissions shall reference the complete RFP number in the subject line.

9. To assure timely and fair evaluation of the proposal, the offeror must follow the instructions contained herein. The proposal must be complete, self-sufficient, and respond directly to the requirements of this solicitation. The response shall consist of the following parts:

COVER LETTER: Offerors submitting a proposal in response to this RFP shall submit the following or like Cover Letter complete and filled in appropriately. The Cover Letter shall include Offerors’ small business status/categories, company point(s) of contact with email/phone, CAGE Code, UID number, and a signature of whom is authorized to contractually obligate the company. Signature of the Cover Letter constitutes an understanding that the company understands the requirements specified within this RFP and will meet the performance standards and requirements therein. In addition, by signing the Cover Letter, the company does not take exception to any of the requirements of this RFP.

COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS

(Offeror to complete blocks below)

Contractor/Offeror:

Cage Code:

Telephone Number:

Signature of Contractor/Offeror

Printed Name and Title of Signer

Date Signed

PART I – TECHNICAL: The Technical Part should be specific and complete. Legibility, clarity, and coherence are very important. Your responses will be evaluated against the Technical subfactors. Provide as specifically as possible the actual methodology you would use for accomplishing/satisfying the subfactors. Address your technical solution for meeting or exceeding the Government’s minimum performance or capability requirements of each technical subfactor. All the requirements specified in the solicitation are mandatory. By submitting a proposal, you are representing that your firm will perform all the requirements specified in the solicitation. Do not merely reiterate the objectives or reword the requirements specified in the solicitation.

Sub-factor 1.1 – Technical Characteristics: The offeror shall submit technical characteristics of the battery being proposed to meet or be compatible with the NSN 6140-01-389-6178 standards. Battery shall be of new quality with a shelf life of 5 years. These characteristics are limited to 2 pages (does not include attachments). The Technical Characteristics shall be specific, detailed, and complete to adequately describe actions the offeror (not the government) will take to ensure satisfactory compliance with battery specifications being requested. Statements that Offerors understand, can, or will comply with the solicitation are insufficient; statements merely paraphrasing the solicitation or parts thereof will be considered “Unacceptable.”

Sub-factor 1.2 – Delivery Capacity: The offer shall submit a detailed delivery plan consisting of how the offer shall deliver batteries and what will be their standard delivery times of the batteries after receipt of each delivery order. Delivery orders are not predictable and will be placed on an as-needed basis based on the units needing replacement. The offeror assumes all risk if they decide to pre-stock batteries in preparation for delivery orders. As such, if a delivery plan consists of a phased delivery period, the offer shall note as such. Blanket statements such as “We will deliver with USPS after receipt of each order” will not be acceptable. The delivery timeframe and courier process must be detailed to demonstrate delivery capacity and availability of the battery from within the offeror’s supply/supply chain. Delivery Timeframe(s) should not exceed three months in total from date of receipt of delivery order.

PART II – PRICE: The offeror shall submit pricing information in the format of the Price Schedule above to support the completeness and reasonableness of their proposed prices for all CLINs. Prices shall be inserted for proposed unit and extended prices in the Price Schedule. The extended amount must equal the whole dollar unit price multiplied by the number of units. The proposal must be submitted for each ordering period. Pricing information submitted should fully support the requirement. Shipping will not be priced tiered separately for delivery expedience. The price of shipping shall be included in the overall unit price of the battery and documented as one price when proposed in the Price Schedule.

10. Proposals must be emailed to Paul Thomas at paul.thomas@noaa.gov and be received no later than the proposal closing date of 1600 hours EST on 17 January 2023. Amendments, if issued, must be signed by an authorized company official and submitted. Late proposals will be processed in accordance with FAR 52.212-1(f) “Late submission, modifications, revisions, and withdrawals of offers.”

11. All questions related to this solicitation are due no later than 1600 hours EST on 6 January 2023. Offerors shall email Paul Thomas at paul.thomas@noaa.gov with all questions related to this solicitation. Responses to the questions will be answered and published to SAM.gov.

(End of Addendum)

52.212-2, EVALUATION--COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS AND COMMERCIAL SERVICES (NOV 2021) (addendum)

1. Award will be made in accordance with the procedures specified in the RFP, to the Offeror whose proposal results in the lowest price technically acceptable. A contract may be awarded to the offeror who is deemed responsible IAW FAR 9.1, as supplemented, whose proposal conforms to the RFP’s requirements (to include all stated terms, conditions, representations, certifications, and all other information required by the RFP instructions).

2. Following receipt of responses to this RFP, the Government will perform a comparative analysis (comparing Offeror proposals to one another) in order to select the offeror that is best suited to fulfill the requirements of the RFP. The comparative analysis will be based on the Offeror’s responses to the factors/subfactors outlined in the RFP, given their stated relative order of importance. Selection will be based on the lowest price technically acceptable (LPTA) process. The Government shall award a contract to the responsible offeror whose proposal is responsive to the solicitation, technically acceptable and considered to be the lowest price based upon a comparative evaluation of price and technical.

3. The Government intends to make award based on the initial proposal submissions without conducting discussions. Therefore, each offer should contain the Offeror’s best terms from a price and technical standpoint. However, the Government reserves the right to hold discussions if, during the evaluation, it is determined to be in the best interest of the Government. Offeror responses to discussions will be considered in making the award selection decision. Discussions may be conducted with one, some or all offerors as the Government is not required to conduct interchanges with any or all Offerors responding to this RFP.

4. Once the Government determines the Offeror that meets stated evaluation factors, the Government reserves the right to communicate with only that Offeror to address any issues, if necessary, and finalize a contract with that Offeror. If the parties cannot successfully resolve outstanding issues, as determined pertinent at the sole discretion of the Government, the Government may communicate with the next best-suited Offeror, based on the original analysis, and address any necessary issues with that Offeror. If the government begins communications with the next lowest price technically acceptable Offeror, no further communications with the previous Offeror will be entertained until after contract award. This process will continue until an agreement is successfully reached and a contract is awarded.

5. Evaluation factors: All evaluation factors other than price, when combined are significantly more important than price. If any of the technical subfactors are found unacceptable, the entire proposal will be found unacceptable. Evaluation will be using the Lowest Price Technically Acceptable process using FAR 12/13 procedures.

6. Responses to this RFP will be evaluated against the following factors and subfactors:

PART I – TECHNICAL: Offeror submitted the technical packet which demonstrates offerors capability to provide supplies IAW the solicitation and the following subfactors:

TECHNICAL RATINGS Sub-factor 1.1

The offeror submitted technical characteristics of the battery being proposed to meet or be compatible the NSN 6140-01-389-6178 standards. Battery proposed is of new quality with a shelf life of 5 years. The characteristics did not exceed 3 pages (not including attachments). The technical characteristics are specific, detailed, and complete to adequately describe how the offeror (not the government) complies with the requested item.

TECHNICAL RATING Sub-factor 1.2

The offer shall submit a detailed delivery plan consisting of how the offer shall deliver batteries and what will be their standard delivery times of the batteries after receipt of each delivery order. If a delivery plan consists of a phased delivery period, the offer shall note as such. Blanket statements of delivery capacity were not included. The delivery timeframe and courier process must demonstrate delivery capacity and availability of the battery from within the offerors supply/supply chain.

Delivery Timeframe(s) did/do not exceed three months in total from date of receipt of delivery order.

PART II – PRICE: Price proposals should support the proposed technical (sub)factor(s) and will be evaluated for (1) Total Evaluated Price (TEP), (2) completeness, (3) reasonableness and (4) unbalanced pricing. Offerors whose price is determined to be incomplete or unreasonable will not be considered for award.

Total Evaluated Price (TEP): The TEP will be calculated as the sum of the Offeror’s proposed prices for the sum of the CLINs unit or extended prices including all ordering periods plus the up to 1,000 quantity Option to Increase Quantity per FAR 52.217-6. Evaluation of options will not obligate the Government to exercise such options or optional CLINs. The increase of quantity is IAW FAR 52.217-6, “Option to Increase Quantity", and will only be utilized if necessary. Offerors will not be required to submit pricing for increased quantity, instead the increased quantity shall be calculated by using the unit price of current Ordering Period and multiplied by quantity being increased. This will be included in the TEP.

Completeness: The proposal will be reviewed to determine the extent to which all the price elements have been addressed. The Offeror’s proposed price and other information will be evaluated to ensure continuity and traceability of prices to the technical volume and between the initial proposal and any revisions thereto. The review will determine the adequacy of the Offeror’s proposal in addressing and fulfilling the RFP requirements.

Reasonableness: For a price to be reasonable, it must represent a price to the Government that a prudent person would pay in the conduct of competitive business. The Government will determine prices fair and reasonable using one or more of the price analysis techniques at FAR 13.106-3(a).

Unbalanced pricing: Offerors are cautioned against submitting an offer that contains unbalanced pricing. Unbalanced pricing may increase performance risk and could result in payment of unreasonably high prices. Unbalanced pricing exists when, despite an acceptable total evaluated price, the price of one (1) or more contract line items is significantly over or understated. The Government shall analyze offers to determine whether they are unbalanced with respect to separately priced line items or sub-line items. An offer that is determined to be unbalanced may be rejected if the Contracting Officer determines that the lack of balance poses an unacceptable risk to the Government.

7. Although past performance may not be used as an evaluation factor, information obtained from other sources available to the Government such as the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) will be used as part of the responsibility determination made IAW FAR 9.104-1. The Government reserves the right to obtain information relative to present and past performance on its own.

(End of Addendum)

(END OF ADDENDUMS)

ATTACHMENT:

1) Provisions and Clauses image1.png