S02 INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS EVALUATIONS FAR Part 12.docx

ADDENDUM TO FAR 52.212-1 – INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS – COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS AND COMMERCIAL SERVICES (SEP 2023) (DEVIATION AUG 2025)

Provisions that are incorporated by reference (by Citation Number, Title, and Date), have 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 following provisions are incorporated into 52.212-1 as an addendum to this solicitation.

A. GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS: This section provides general guidance for preparing the quote, as well as specific instructions on the format and content of the quote. The Offeror’s quote must include all data and information requested and must be submitted in accordance with these instructions. Any offeror who submits an incomplete package may have its quote considered to be unacceptable and removed from consideration for contract award. The offer shall be compliant with the requirements as stated in the solicitation. Non-compliance with the instructions to the solicitation may result in an unfavorable quote evaluation and may be grounds to eliminate the proposal from consideration for contract award.

Offeror should thoroughly review the specifications and become familiar with the requirement prior to submitting a quote. Failure to understand the contract requirements shall not relieve the successful offeror from performing in accordance with the strict meaning and intent of the specifications.

Submission of offerors. Offeror must complete and return a complete package of all items required in two separate documents (Part-I Price, Part II-Past Performance) prior to the time specified in the solicitation to be considered for award. Offers received after the established response date/time will not be accepted.

Please review the following items before submitting your quote:

[ ] Contractor must include contractor information in section 17a (Company Name, Address, POC Information, Cage Code) and print/sign/date 30 (a-c) of first page of SF 1449.

[ ] Contractor must completely price with the “Unit Price” and Total of CLIN, in SF 1449, Section 1 Price Schedule.

[ ] Contractor must acknowledge any amendment (s), if applicable.

[ ] Contractor must provide two separate documents, Part-I Price: SF1449 price schedule. Complete all Provisions (fill-ins) in section 4, if applicable, and VAAR Clause 852.219-75. Part-II Past Performance: Offeror must provide at least three (3) references for similar scope contracts in public or private sector and no more than five (5) references . Include: project title, agency, contract number, type, value, period, description, scope, size, complexity, offeror’s role, and point of contact info.

( ) (Dev), provide copy of Reps & Certs completed in SAM.gov., as Part II-Past Performance.

B. TYPE OF ACQUISITION: This acquisition is a competitive solicitation; it will be 100% Service-Disabled Veterans Small Business (SDVOSB) set aside. Award will be made to the responsible offeror whose quote is most advantageous to the Government, considering fair and reasonable pricing and recent, relevant and quality of past performance. The Government intends to award a single firm-fixed Price Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract.

C. PERIOD OF ACCEPTANCE OF OFFERS: The Offeror agrees to hold prices in its offer firm for a period of sixty (60) calendar days from the closing date of the solicitation.

D. PAST PERFORMANCE: The Government reserves the right to obtain past performance information from any available source and may contact references other than those identified by the Offeror when determining responsibility.

E. POINTS OF CONTACT (POC): Questions, and/or concerns may be sent to Roberto Escobedo, Contracting Specialist, email: roberto.escobedo@va.gov, no later than 28 January 2026 1:00pm (PST). No questions will be accepted after the above date/time.

F. SITE VISIT: N/A

G. QUOTE SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS:

Submission via email to: roberto.escobedo@va.gov Subject line: 36C78626Q50050_Company Name Submission deadline: 13 February 2026 @ 1:00 PM PST

Do not make any changes to the files or the format of the files of the Solicitation and any attachments. Offerors who make any changes without prior written consent from the Contracting Officer (CO) may be eliminated from further consideration.

· It is the Offeror’s responsibility to ensure that documents are complete, and submission is viewable/ readable and arrives to the CO/CS by the date and time required.

· It is the Offeror’s responsibility to fill in all applicable Solicitation provisions and are submitted.

· The Offeror must provide enough information for the evaluation team to make their decision in price reasonableness and past performance ratings. The evaluation team will only evaluate what is submitted.

· If any required documents are omitted with submission, the offer may be precluded from further consideration.

H. Submission Requirements Submission Format Offerors shall organize their quotes in the following format to ensure clarity and completeness:

General Formatting Requirements: Submit each Part as a separate PDF file and ensure all documents are legible and complete

Part I – Price: This factor shall be used to assess fair and price reasonableness. The offeror shall submit pricing information to support the completeness and reasonableness of their proposed prices for all line items and resultant total evaluated price (TEP)

1. Contractor must provide a complete signed SF 1449 with completed CLIN price schedule. (Unit price and total for each CLIN) Note: Verify the unit price multiplied by the quantity equals the total amount for each CLIN.

2. Any required pricing notes or assumptions (if applicable) on a separate page from SF 1449.

3. Complete all Provisions (fill-ins) and fill in VAAR Clause 852.219-75.

Part II – Past Performance:

1. Offeror shall provide at least three (3) references for similar scope contracts in public or private sector and no more than five (5) references. References need to include Point of Contact, Name, telephone, email. Describe the magnitude/scope of each listed reference and total contract value. Recency is considered within the past three (3) years from release of this solicitation. The Government evaluation team is looking for: Recent, Relevant, and Successful Past Performance in the performance of Disinterment Support Services.

2. It is recommended to use the attached Past Peformance Questionnaire document.

3. No marketing materials or general corporate capability statements.

Past Performance Submission Instructions

1. Offerors shall submit past performance information to demonstrate the relevancy and recency of previous work similar in size, scope, and complexity to the requirements of this solicitation. The Government will use this information to evaluate the offeror’s likelihood of successfully performing the work.

2. Offerors are encouraged to provide metrics, customer ratings, commendations, or documentation of corrective actions to support the evaluation of past performance quality.

3. Offeror shall provide at least three (3) references for similar scope contracts in public or private sector and no more than five (5) references. These may include prime contracts, subcontracts, or task orders performed within the last three (3) years from the date of this solicitation. The Government reserves the right to contact references to verify performance and to use other sources of information for evaluation purposes.

4. Do not submit general corporate experience or marketing material.

5. For each past performance reference, we encourage you to use the attached Past Performance Questionnaire. At a minimum contractors must provide the following details:

(c) Contract Number,

(d) Contract Type (e.g., FFP, T&M, CPFF),

(e) Contract Value (initial and final, if different),

(f) Period of Performance (start and end dates),

(g) Description of Work Performed,

(h) Describe the work and its relevance to this solicitation’s requirements,

(i) Size and Complexity,

(j) Include number of FTEs, locations, or other relevant scale factors,

(k) Offeror’s Role (Prime, Subcontractor, JV Partner, etc.),

(l) Point of Contact,

(m) Include name, title, phone, and email address.

(End of Addendum to 52.212-1)

Addendum 52.212-2 EVALUATION – COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS AND COMMERCIAL SERVICES. (Nov 2021) (DEVIATION AUG 2025)

(A) The Government will award a single Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors will be used to evaluate offers:

(1) Price: This factor shall be used to assess fair and price reasonableness.

Note: Lower prices will be viewed more favorably, provided all other requirements are met. While price will not be the sole factor in the award decision, the overall total price will be a significant consideration.

(2) Past Performance: The past performance submissions will primarily determine the competency of the offeror’s historical performance, and how the competency can be employed to predict the offeror’s success in performing the task(s) listed in the Statement of Work (SOW). The Government will evaluate past performance for: Recent, Relevant, and Successful Past Performance in the performance of Disinterment Support Services.

The Government reserves the right to use information obtained from other sources, such as databases, to provide a reasonable basis for evaluating past performance. The past performance evaluation will assess the relative risks associated with the offerors likelihood of success in fulfilling the solicitation’s requirements as indicated by the Offeror’s record of past performance. The past performance evaluation may be based on the contracting officer’s knowledge of and previous experience with the supply or service being acquired; Customer surveys, past performance questionnaire replies, Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) at http://www.cpars.gov/; or any other reasonable basis.

Basis for Award: In accordance with FAR 12.203(c )(2) Evaluation of Quotations: The contracting officer has broad discretion in establishing how quotations will be evaluated. For this Solicitation, the contracting officer will perform a comparative evaluation of quotations. The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose quote, conforming to the solicitation, will be most advantageous to the Government, based on price and other factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers/quotes: Price, Past Performance.

EVALUATION PROCESS: The Government will use comparative analysis procedures to evaluate quotes. The Government will compare the value of each offer based on price and the recency, relevancy, and quality of past performance. This approach allows the Government to determine which offeror provides the best overall value, considering the combination of demonstrated performance history and fair price reasonable pricing. The Government intends to evaluate offers and award a contract without interchanges with offerors. However, the Government reserves the right to conduct interchanges at any time if determined by the contracting officer to be in the Government’s interest.

Initial Compliance Review

0. The agency will first conduct a preliminary review to ensure each quote was submitted on time and includes all required documentation.

0. Quotes that are incomplete or noncompliant with submission instructions may be disqualified without further evaluation.

Past Performance Evaluation

0. Evaluators will assess past performance based on:

2. Recency: For purposes of this evaluation, recency is defined as a completed effort performed within the past three (3) years from the issuance date of this solicitation.

2. Relevancy: The Government will perform an independent determination of relevancy of the data provided or obtained. A relevancy determination will be made for each of the submitted references. A more relevant past performance record may receive a higher confidence rating and be considered more favorably than a less relevant record. The Government is not bound by the offeror's opinion of relevancy. The following relevancy criteria apply and will be assigned to each effort identified in an offeror's proposal:

Scope: The contractor provided disinterment support services at a National Cemetery or local cemetery of similar size (111.5 acres).

Performed at a National Cemetery, military cemetery, or other high-visibility federal or institutional site with strict appearance standards equivalent to “national shrine” conditions.

Scope: Included most major services in this SOW (e.g., Cemetery labor work, grounds support services, operation of hand tools, work performed in regulated or sensitive environments).

Demonstrated ability to meet appearance and scheduling standards at large, visible sites such as state veterans cemeteries, universities, or municipal park systems.

Provided partial services such as grounds support services and operation of hand tools.

0. Scope and magnitude of effort and complexities in the above definitions not only include the technical complexities identified for each effort, but also considerations including but not limited to dollar values, type, and complexity for each effort. When assigning a relevancy rating to a contract effort, the Government will consider the technical complexities, and the scope and magnitude of effort as separate aspects. If both of these aspects are not reflected in the submitted contract effort, the overall relevancy rating assigned to that contract will be affected. For example, if the submitted contract meets essentially the same technical complexities but involves only some of the scope and magnitude of effort, a lesser relevancy rating will be assigned.

0. Quality: Past performance information deemed recent and relevant will then be looked at for the quality of the performance. The quality of past performance will be determined by the responses to questionnaires along with details provided in CPARS and FAPIIS reports. Quality is subjective and is heavily dependent on data provided to the evaluation team. A quality rating will not be assigned to each instance of past performance, rather, it will be used to assign a performance confidence rating.

0. Past Performance Evaluation Ratings: As a result of the recency, relevancy and quality assessments of the contracts evaluated, one of the ratings described below will be assigned to the Past Performance factor.

Adjectival Ratings

Note: In the case of an offeror without a record of relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not readily available or so sparse that no meaningful past performance rating can be reasonably assigned, the offeror may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance. Therefore, the offeror shall be determined to have unknown (or "neutral") past performance. In the context of acceptability/unacceptability, a neutral rating shall be considered "acceptable."

Price Evaluation

0. Price will be evaluated to assess fair and price reasonableness. Offeror must submit Standard Form (SF)1449: Complete blocks 12,17a, 30a, 30b, and 30c. In doing so, the Offeror accedes to the contract terms and conditions as written in the solicitation unless the Offeror affirmatively states any exceptions, deviations or waivers to the contract terms and conditions. An incomplete quote may be considered to indicate lack of understanding of the requirement and may result in the entire quote being determined non-responsive, (i.e., "unacceptable") and eliminated from further consideration.

0. Insert proposed unit prices and total prices on the SF1449. All submitted line items to include option items will be added together and be the offerors total evaluated price.

0. Lower prices will be viewed more favorably, assuming all other evaluation factors are met.

Final Evaluation and Award Recommendation

0. The quotes offering the best value—based on recent, relevant, and overall past performance rating, and fair reasonable pricing—will be recommended for award.

0. Final award decisions are subject to approval by the designated contracting officer or approving official.

(C) 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 will determine that an offer is unacceptable if the option prices are significantly unbalanced or if the proposed price for the basic requirement or any option exceeds the amount of funding available for any of those requirements. Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s).

(End of provision)