RFQ_CO201531173_Combined_Synopsis_Solicitation.pdf

U . S . T R A D E A N D D E V E L O P M E N T A G E N C Y

SUBJECT: Request for Quote for India: Smart Cities Integrated Planning Technical Specialist Services (Technical Advisory Services)

SOLICITATION NUMBER: RFQ-CO201531173

ISSUANCE DATE: June 19, 2015 CLOSING DATE: July 14, 2015, 4:00 pm EST

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial item prepared in accordance with the format in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 12.6 and procedures in Subpart 13.1 as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only Request for Quote (RFQ); quotations are being requested and written solicitation will not be issued.

This solicitation is being issued In Accordance With (IAW) FAR Subpart 13.104. The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the RFQ respondent who is deemed responsible and is determined, based on the evaluation factors, to represent the best value to the Government.

This procurement is unrestricted under NAICS Code 541690. Award is limited to U.S. Firms or U.S. individuals. Contractor and subcontractor personnel used shall be either U.S. citizens on non-U.S. citizens lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States. Contractor use of subcontractors is limited to less than fifty percent of the proposed price.

The Government intends to award a Time and Materials (T&M (Fixed Labor Rate/Labor Day)) contract with Cost Reimbursable Line Items for Travel with an 18-month period of performance as a result of this RFQ. The total estimated number of labor days for this contract is 380 days;

broken down as follows: estimated 246 in labor days and estimated 134 in travel days to, within, and from India (Note: RFQ Respondent may follow this USTDA’s estimated Level of Effort in their price quote or independently estimate theirs (accompanied with narratives)). Travel (which is cost reimbursable) will be required during the performance of this contract. No profit or fee shall be added to travel.

Quotes should set forth any exceptions/assumptions taken with regard to the Statement of Work (SOW) or any other aspect of the RFQ or any other information that you find necessary and pertinent to your quote (for example, the RFQ Respondent may follow the USTDA’s estimated Level of Effort spreadsheet or independently estimate theirs (accompanied with narratives)).

However, RFQ Respondents are cautioned that any exceptions/assumptions to the terms and conditions of the solicitation will be at their own risk. Any exceptions or assumptions should clearly identify the paragraph and term or condition to which the exception or assumption is being made and include supporting rationale.

The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-82.

I. INSTRUCTIONS TO RFQ RESPONDENTS

The provision at FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial, applies to this acquisition with addendum as follows:

1. Quotation Due Date: Your quotation (technical, management, past performance, and price) must be received no later than 4:00 pm EST on July 14, 2015. Late quotations will be processed in accordance with FAR 52.212-1(f).

2. Quotation Submission: Send your quotation by email to contractproposals@ustda.gov.

Quotations submitted by fax or to alternate email addresses will NOT be accepted.

3. Questions Relating to This RFQ: All questions concerning this solicitation should be directed to Ms. Ijeoma Ezeonwuka at iezeonwuka@ustda.gov. The question cutoff date is 12 Noon EST on June 25, 2015. Please reference the Solicitation Number in the Subject Line of your email.

4. Notice Regarding Suspension/Debarment/Ineligibility: Any contract awarded to a contractor who, at the time of award, is suspended, debarred, and ineligible for receipt of contract with Government Agencies or in receipt of a notice of proposed debarment from any Government Agency, is voidable at the option of the Government.

5. System for Award Management (SAM) Database: All Contractors must be registered in the SAM database via https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ in order to be eligible for contract award. Lack of registration in SAM will make an RFQ respondent ineligible for award as described in FAR 52.204-7. However, do NOT delay submission of your quote pending receipt of a CAGE code.

6. Special Contract Requirements: This Request for Quotation (RFQ) includes the following additional contract terms and conditions:

CONTRACTOR FOLLOW-ON (INELIGIBILITY): The Contractor and its subcontractors shall be ineligible to compete for, as a prime or subcontractor or otherwise, USTDA funded activities that result from this contract. USTDA reserves the right to grant a waiver, based upon FAR 9.503, if preclusion of the contractor or its subcontractors from the follow-on activity would not be in the Government's interest.

This restriction shall remain in effect for three years from the completion of this contract.

The contractor agrees to include this provision in all subcontracts to this contract.

7. Contract Clauses: The clauses at 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items and 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items, apply to this acquisition.

mailto:contractproposals@ustda.gov mailto:contractproposals@ustda.gov https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/

8. Responses Shall Be Submitted In THREE Separate Volumes As Follows:

VOLUME I(a): TECHNICAL QUOTE:

**No pricing information shall be included as part of the technical quote. All pricing information shall be included in a separate volume as noted on page 5 of this RFQ**

Technical quote shall not exceed 15 pages in length. Any additional pages will not be evaluated.

(a) The technical quote shall clearly describe relevant technical background and professional experience related to evaluating and implementing urban and regional smart city and infrastructure planning projects as it relates to the Statement of Work (SOW), including experience in drafting Terms of Reference/Scopes of Work and Budgets for studies, pilot projects, and technical assistance activities that promote integrated critical infrastructure systems.

(b) The technical quote shall also clearly describe relevant technical knowledge areas that support the evaluation and implementation of urban and regional smart city and infrastructure planning projects– such as technical experience with energy generation/transmission/distribution systems and procedures, multi-modal transportation networks, information and communications infrastructure; and relevant regulations and standards as related to the SOW.

The RFQ respondent(s) shall confine submissions to essential matters, sufficient to define the quote and provide an adequate basis for evaluation. RFQ respondent(s) are responsible for including sufficient details, in a concise manner, to permit a complete and accurate evaluation of each quote. No material may be incorporated in the quote by reference in order to circumvent the page limitation. Please submit the technical quote as a searchable PDF.

The following documents are not included in the page limitation:

a. Cover Page

b. Table of Contents

c. Executive Summary: Although this section will not be evaluated, if included, it should allow technical reviewers to quickly understand the critical elements of the quote including the most salient features of the RFQ respondents’ technical vision and approach, the key personnel and capabilities to accomplish the desired results. This section shall be limited to 1 page. Any additional pages will not be reviewed.

d. Resume/Curriculum Vitae (CV): Resumes/Curriculum Vitae (CVs) submitted as part of the quote, may not exceed 3 pages per person. Any additional pages shall not be reviewed.

VOLUME I(b): PAST PERFORMANCE:

a. Relevant Past Performance Information:

i. For all RFQ Respondents submitting a quote:

RFQ respondents shall submit a list of no more than three past performance references within the past five years, consisting of the contract number, contract type (preferably time-and-materials/labor hour contracts), the entity (federal, state, or local Government, or private sector) for which the work was performed, a summary of the relevant work, and the name of the person (e.g. contracting or technical) to be contacted with their address, telephone, and email address. Past performance will be considered relevant if the contract demonstrates relevant experiences that are similar in size, scope, and complexity to the effort described in this solicitation.

The Government reserves the right to obtain past performance information from any available source, to include the U.S. Government’s Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS), and may contact customers other than those identified by the RFQ Respondent when evaluating past performance.

RFQ respondents are authorized to provide information on problems encountered on the identified contracts and the RFQ Respondents' corrective actions. The Government shall consider this information, as well as information obtained from any other sources, when evaluating the RFQ Respondent's past performance. The source selection authority shall determine the relevance of similar past performance information.

1. For RFQ Respondents WITH existing and relevant USTDA past performance (see definition of relevancy in a.i. above)

Per a.i. above, if some or all of the submitted three past performance references are from USTDA, USTDA will attempt to retrieve records for the referenced past performance effort either from the U.S. Government’s Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS) or from records internal to USTDA or from both. No further action is required by the RFQ Respondent.

2. For RFQ Respondents WITHOUT existing and relevant

USTDA past performance

Submit the Past Performance Questionnaire (Enclosure 3) to its submitted three references (see a.i.) for completion. The references (not the RFQ respondents) must return the completed Questionnaire to the email address indicated no later than the closing date of this solicitation. The RFQ Respondent is solely responsible for ensuring the questionnaire is completed and returned by the respective references on or before the deadline. Any past performance questionnaire returned directly by the RFQ respondents may not be considered.

The Questionnaire includes instructions that must be reviewed and followed carefully. Responses must be typed into the provided, editable Microsoft Office Word Document Past Performance Questionnaire (RFP Enclosure 3).

In the case of an RFQ respondent without any record of relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not available FAR 15.305(a)(2)(iv) states that the RFQ respondent may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance. The RFQ respondents, in this case, shall be rated as “Unknown Confidence (Neutral)" - which is neither favorable nor unfavorable.

VOLUME II: MANAGEMENT QUOTE:

**No pricing information shall be included as part of the management quote. All pricing information shall be included in a separate volume as noted on page 5 of this RFQ**

The management quote shall not exceed 2 pages in length. Any additional pages will not be evaluated.

(a) The management quote shall clearly describe relevant corporate experience with managing

Time-and-Materials/Labor Hour Contracts. The quote shall show a demonstrated capability to manage Time-and-Materials/Labor Hour contract project efforts, the capability to convey accurate and timely project status, and the capability to provide cost/schedule/performance metrics required by the Government.

The RFQ respondent(s) shall confine submissions to essential matters, sufficient to define the quote and provide an adequate basis for evaluation. RFQ respondent(s) are responsible for including sufficient details, in a concise manner, to permit a complete and accurate evaluation of each quote. No material may be incorporated in the quote by reference in order to circumvent the page limitation. Please submit the management quote as a searchable PDF.

VOLUME III: PRICE:

Price Quote: (a) RFQ respondents shall submit their price quote using Standard Form (SF) 1449- Solicitation/Contract/Order for Commercial Items. Each RFQ respondent should ensure the CAGE CODE and DUNS Numbers are placed in Block 17A and complete blocks 24 (with pricing information), 30A, 30B, and 30C.

(b) RFQ respondents shall also submit a breakdown of the price quote in a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet complete with traceable formulas. The price quote excel spreadsheet must be accompanied with narratives (to support the price quote) in a word document. ALL PRICE

NUMBERS SHALL BE ROUNDED UP (NO CENTS).

(c) RFQ Respondent may follow the USTDA’s sample pricing spreadsheet or independently estimate theirs (accompanied with narratives) to include their total proposed mix of labor categories, labor rates (fully loaded), and labor days needed to meet all the requirements contained in the SOW.

II. EVALUATION PROCEDURES

a. EVALUATION FACTOR 1: TECHNICAL: The following subfactors are of equal importance:

Sub-factor 1: Relevant Technical Experience: The RFQ respondent's relevant technical background and professional experience related to evaluating and implementing urban and regional smart city and infrastructure planning projects as it relates to the Statement of Work (SOW), including experience in drafting Terms of Reference/Scopes of Work and Budgets for studies, pilot projects and technical assistance activities that promote integrated critical infrastructure systems shall be evaluated to determine the likelihood that the RFQ respondent can successfully perform the contract requirements and the degree of the risk of non-performance.

Sub-factor 2: Relevant Technical Knowledge: The RFQ respondent's relevant technical knowledge areas that support the evaluation and implementation of urban and regional smart city and infrastructure planning projects– such as technical experience with energy generation/transmission/distribution systems and procedures, multi-modal transportation networks, information and communications infrastructure; and relevant regulations and standards as related to the SOW shall be evaluated to determine the likelihood that the RFQ respondent can successfully perform the contract requirements and the degree of the risk of non-performance.

The impact of the ratings of Technical Subfactors 1 and 2 on the overall Technical Factor rating is further explained in this paragraph. If the rating of Technical Subfactor 1 (or Technical Subfactor 2) is Acceptable, then such a rating will have no positive or negative impact on the overall rating for the Technical Factor. For example, if the rating of Technical Subfactor 1 (or Technical Subfactor 2) is Acceptable and the rating of Technical Subfactor 2 (or Technical Subfactor 1) is Outstanding, then the overall Technical Factor rating will be Outstanding. On the other hand, if the rating of Technical Subfactor 1 (or Technical Subfactor 2) is Unacceptable, then such a rating will have a negative impact on the overall rating for the Technical Factor. In that case, the overall Technical rating will be Unacceptable —regardless of the rating of Technical Subfactor 2.

b. EVALUATION FACTOR 2: MANAGEMENT (of Time and Materials/Labor Hour

Contracts): The RFQ Respondent’s relevant corporate experience with managing Time-and- Materials/Labor Hour Contracts shall be evaluated to determine the likelihood that the RFQ Respondent can successfully perform the contract requirements and the degree of the risk of non-performance.

The RFQ Respondent shall also be evaluated on demonstrated capability to manage Time-and-Materials/Labor Hour contract project efforts, the capability to convey accurate and timely project status, and the capability to provide cost/schedule/performance metrics required by the Government to determine the likelihood that the RFQ respondent can successfully perform the contract requirements and the degree of the risk of non-performance.

c. EVALUATION FACTOR 3: RELEVANT PAST PERFORMANCE: Government's intent is to evaluate each RFQ respondent's past performance - including technical performance; timeliness of performance; quality/customer satisfaction; and cost control - to determine whether the RFQ respondent consistently delivered quality service in a timely manner in the past. This factor will be evaluated on the basis of relevant past performance information, including performance on contracts of a comparable nature scope and complexity to those in the current solicitation. The past performance information to be evaluated includes information regarding predecessor companies, key personnel who have relevant experience, or subcontractors that will perform major or critical aspects of the requirement when such information is relevant. The information presented in RFQ respondents' quotes, together with information from any other sources available to the Government (e.g., Government-controlled Contractor performance databases and references including contractual, technical, and end-user representatives) may be considered.

In the case of an RFQ respondent without a record of relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not available FAR 15.305(a)(2)(iv) states that the RFQ respondent may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance. The RFQ respondent, in this case, shall be rated as "Neutral" - which is neither favorable nor unfavorable.

d. EVALUATION FACTOR 4: PRICE: A price evaluation will be conducted in accordance with FAR 13.106-3 to determine completeness (i.e. all information required by the RFQ has been submitted and is accurate) and fair and reasonableness. The Government may also conduct price realism for the purpose of assessing whether an RFQ respondent’s unrealistically low price reflects on its understanding of the SOW requirements or the risk inherent in the RFQ respondent’s approach. Price quotes found to be unrealistically low (an indication of “buy – in”) will be ineligible for award. The evaluated price will be used in the tradeoff analysis between price and technical factors to determine best value.

Award Basis: Quote will be evaluated on the following factors: Technical, Management, Relevant Past Performance, and Price. Within the Technical Factor, Technical Subfactors 1 and 2 are of equal importance. Award will be made, using the tradeoff process, to the contractor whose quote represents the best value to the Government. The non-price factors (Technical, Management, and Past Performance) when combined are significantly more important than price. However, as technical merit of the quotes becomes more equal, price may become a determining factor.

Table 1. Technical Ratings: Technical factor and sub-factors shall be evaluated using the following adjectival ratings:

Rating Description Outstanding Quote meets requirements and indicates an exceptional approach and understanding of the requirements. Strengths far outweigh any weaknesses. Risk of unsuccessful performance is very low.

Good Quote meets requirements and indicates a thorough approach and understanding of the requirements. Quote contains strengths which outweigh any weaknesses.

Risk of unsuccessful performance is low.

Acceptable Quote meets requirements and indicates an adequate approach and understanding of the requirements. Strengths and weaknesses are offsetting or will have little or no impact on contract performance. Risk of unsuccessful performance is no worse than moderate.

Marginal Quote does not clearly meet requirements and has not demonstrated an adequate approach and understanding of the requirements. The quote has one or more weaknesses which are not offset by strengths. Risk of unsuccessful performance is high.

Unacceptable Quote does not meet requirements and contains one or more deficiencies. Quote is unawardable.

Table 2. Past Performance Confidence Assessments: Past Performance factor shall be evaluated using the following adjectival ratings:

Rating Description Substantial Confidence Based on the RFQ respondent’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has a high expectation that the RFQ respondent will successfully perform the required effort.

Satisfactory Confidence Based on the RFQ respondent’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has a reasonable expectation that the RFQ respondent will successfully perform the required effort.

Limited Confidence Based on the RFQ respondent’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has a low expectation that the RFQ respondent will successfully perform the required effort.

No Confidence Based on the RFQ respondent’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has no expectation that the RFQ respondent will be able to successfully perform the required effort.

Unknown Confidence (Neutral) No recent/relevant performance record is available or the RFQ respondent’s performance record is so sparse that no meaningful confidence assessment rating can be reasonably assigned.

Best Value Award Determination

The Government will make an award to the RFQ respondent whose quote conforms to the SOW requirements and is determined, based on the evaluation factors, to represent the best value to the Government. The Government seeks to award to the RFQ respondent who gives USTDA the greatest confidence that it will best meet or exceed the requirements affordably. This may result in an award to a higher rated, higher priced RFQ respondent, where the decision is consistent with the evaluation factors and the Contracting Officer reasonably determines that the technical superiority of the higher priced RFQ respondent merits the additional price.

The Government may award based on initial quotes received, without further discussions.

Accordingly, each RFQ respondent should submit their quote to the Government using the most favorable terms from a technical and price standpoint. Pursuant to FAR Part 15.306(c), if discussions are held, the Contracting Officer shall establish a competitive range of the most highly rated quotes. If the number of most highly rated quotes exceeds the number at which an efficient competition can be conducted, the Contracting Officer may limit the number of quotes in the competitive range.

Only one award will result from this RFQ. Quotes that do not address all requirements presented in the SOW may not be considered for award.

//Signed//

Ijeoma Ezeonwuka USTDA Contracting Officer

Enclosures:

1. Standard Form 1449 with Clauses and Statement of Work

2. Sample Pricing and Estimated Level of Effort Spreadsheet

3. Past Performance Questionnaire