RFQ_CO201551127_Combined_Synopsis_Solicitation_Regional_LAC.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: COMBINED/SYNOPSIS SOLICITATION: Central America and the

Caribbean – Clean Energy and Smart Grid Project Opportunities Definitional Mission (DM).

SOLICITATION NUMBER: RFQ-CO201551127

ISSUANCE DATE: April 15, 2015 CLOSING DATE: April 29, 2015, 4:00 PM Local Time

This request 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 Quotes (RFQ); offers are being requested and written solicitation will not be issued.

This solicitation will be issued utilizing Full and Open Competition IAW FAR Subpart 6.1. The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the offeror who is deemed responsible and is determined, based on the evaluation factors and subfactors, to present 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 U.S. subcontractor employees used shall be either U.S. citizens or non-U.S. citizens lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States. International transportation and insurance must have their nationality, source and origin in the U.S. local lodging; food and transportation in the host country are not subject to this restriction.

THE FOLLOWING ITEMS REPRESENT THE "PROPOSAL PACKAGE" THAT

SHOULD BE RETURNED IN RESPONSE TO THIS SOLICITATION (Addendum to FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors – Commercial Items (FEB 2012)).

1. Quote Due Date:

Your quote must be received no later than 4:00 p.m. local Arlington, VA time on Wednesday, April 29, 2015. Late proposals will be processed in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation guidance.

2. Offer Submission:

Send your offer by email to contractproposals@ustda.gov which is due no later than 4:00 p.m., local Arlington, VA time on Wednesday, April 29, 2015. Proposals submitted by facsimile or to alternate email addresses will NOT be accepted.

3. Notice Regarding Suspension/Debarment/Ineligibility:

Any contract awarded to a contractor who, at the time of award was 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.

4. 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 Offeror ineligible for award as described in FAR 52.204-7.

Do NOT delay submission of your offer pending receipt of a CAGE code.

5. Inspection and Acceptance:

All services are subject to the COR's and/or ACOR’s final approval. All work will be inspected and accepted at USTDA's Office, Arlington, VA.

6. Deliveries or Performance:

The performance of this contract shall start immediately after the effective date of award.

The Contractor shall submit all deliverables under this contract to the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) on or about November 30, 2015. The Period of Performance for this contract shall be eight months from the date of the Contracting Officer's signature on the contract. Performance of this contract shall be at USTDA's Office, Arlington, VA, at other locations in the U.S., and/or the designated host country.

7. Special Contract Requirements:

This solicitation includes the following additional contract requirements and 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.

8. Contract Clauses:

The clauses at 52.214-4, 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.

9. Responses Shall Be Submitted In Two Separate Volumes As Follows:

VOLUME I(a): TECHNICAL QUOTE:

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

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 3 pages. 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 Offerors 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, 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 task order request.

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 Offeror when evaluating past performance.

RFQ respondents are authorized to provide information on problems encountered on the identified contracts and the Offerors' corrective actions.

The Government shall consider this information, as well as information obtained from any other sources, when evaluating the Offeror'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

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 IQC Contractor.

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 Offeror 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: PRICE:

Price Quote: 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.

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.

10. Evaluation Factors for Award: FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation, Commercial Items (available at www.farsite.hill.af.mil under FAR), is being used. The following non-price factors are of equal importance and will be used to evaluate all offers. All evaluation factors, other than cost or price, when combined, are significantly more important that cost or price.

(1) TECHNICAL: The following sub-factors are listed in descending order of importance:

Sub-factor 1: Technical Experience

The RFQ respondent's relevant technical background and professional experience in the energy sector as it relates to the Statement of Work (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 RFQ respondent’s relevant experience drafting Terms of Reference (i.e., scopes of work) and budgets for equivalent studies/technical assistance and experience with relevant financing mechanisms shall be evaluated.

Sub-factor 2: Technical Knowledge

The RFQ respondent's relevant technical knowledge of the energy sector in Central America and the Caribbean (most importantly in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, and Panama and secondarily in Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname) as it relates 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 RFQ respondent’s demonstrated proficiency with the Spanish language per Section 1.3 of the SOW shall be evaluated.

Sub-factor 3: Work Plan and Quality of Proposal

The RFQ respondent’s work plan, including strategy for evaluating risks, financial viability, and U.S. export potential/U.S. sector competitiveness of projects, as it relates 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.

(2) PAST PERFORMANCE

(3) PRICE: The Government will evaluate price to determine the following--

Completeness: All information required by the solicitation has been submitted and is accurate.

Reasonableness: Price is fair and reasonable in accordance with FAR.

Technical factor and sub-factors shall be evaluated using the following adjectival ratings:

Table 1. Technical Ratings Rating Description Outstanding Proposal 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 Proposal meets requirements and indicates a thorough approach and understanding of the requirements. Proposal contains strengths which outweigh any weaknesses. Risk of unsuccessful performance is low.

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

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

Past Performance factor shall be evaluated using the following adjectival ratings:

Table 2. Past Performance Confidence Assessments Rating Description Substantial Confidence Based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has a high expectation that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort.

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

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

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

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

BASIS FOR CONTRACT AWARD: The Government will use Trade-off Source Selection Procedures to evaluate offers and determine the best value. The Government will award a contract resulting from this RFP to the offeror who is deemed responsible in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation, as supplemented, who's proposal conforms to the RFP requirements (to include all stated terms, conditions, representations, certifications, and all other information required by this solicitation) and is determined, based on the evaluation factors to represent the best value to the Government. The Government seeks to award to the offeror who gives USTDA the greatest confidence that it will best meet or exceed the requirement affordably. This may result in an award to a higher rated, higher priced offeror, where the decision is consistent with the evaluation factors and the Contracting Officer reasonably determines that the technical approach of the higher priced offeror outweighs the cost difference.

12. Questions Relating to This Solicitation:

All questions must be emailed to the POC listed in the solicitation at contractproposals@ustda.gov no later than April 22, 2015 at 4:00 p.m. VA Time. Please reference the Solicitation Number in the SUBJECT LINE of your email.

//Signed//

TYRONE W. JOHNSON

Contracting Officer, Office of Acquisition Management

Enclosures:

1. Standard Form 1449

2. Statement of Work (SOW)

3. Past Performance Questionnaire