AMendment_001.pdf

NSN 7540-01-152-8070 STANDARD FORM 30. (Rev. 10-83) Previous Edition unusable Prescribed by GSA FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

Page of Pages AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT 1. Contract ID Code

2. AMENDMENT MODIFICATION NO. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE 4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO. 5. PROJECT NO. (if applicable)

6. ISSUED BY CODE 7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than item 6) CODE

(x) 9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NO.

9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (NO., Street, Country, State and ZIP Code)

CODE FACILITY CODE

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of offers is extended, is not extended.

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended, by one of the following methods:

(a) By completing items 8 and 15, and returning ______ copies of amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted;

or (c) By separate letter or telegram which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OR OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment your desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by telegram or letter, provided each telegram or letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required)

13. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO MODIFICATION OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS. IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

Check One

A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE

CONTRACT ORDER NO. IN ITEM 10A.

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority)

E. IMPORTANT: Contractor is not, is required to sign this document and return _______ copies to the issuing office.

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible)

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print)

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)

15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR 16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

(Signature of person authorized to sign)

15C. DATE SIGNED

(Signature of Contracting Officer)

16C. DATE SIGNED

Attachment Page

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The above referenced solicitation is hereby amended to respond to questions submitted and to extend the due date for quotations.

1. Questions and responses are hereby provided

QUESTION 1. Page 26, 2nd paragraph. Government indicates “The proposal must be typed, on 8-1/2” by 11” paper, not exceeding 25 pages…….”Are the key personnel resume(s) part of the 25 page limit or excluded?

RESPONSE 1. The Addendum to 52.212-1 Instructions, reads “The proposal must be typed, on 8-1/2" by 11" paper, not exceeding 25 pages, single sided, single spaced, exclusive of submissions for experience and past performance evaluation factors. Project descriptions for experience and past performance shall be limited to ½ page per description. Resumes are limited to four pages

QUESTION 2. Page 26, 2nd paragraph. Government indicates “Resumes are limited to four pages.” Is the 4 page limit per resume or all resumes (i.e., Key Personnel(s) and Mock Task Order)?

RESPONSE 2. Per resume.

QUESTION 3. Government indicates “The proposal must be typed, on 8-1/2” by 11” paper, not exceeding 25 pages, single sided, single spaced, exclusive of submissions for experience and past performance…….” Because

Corporate and Key Personnel Experience fall within the “Experience” section, are both Corporate and

Key Personnel experience sections excluded from the 25 page limit?

RESPONSE 3. Reference response to question 1 and instructions.

QUESTION 4. Do Letters of intent and/or letters of commitment counts towards the 25 page limit?

RESPONSE 4. No.

QUESTION 5. Is the Government seeking Mock Task Order as a standalone volume or should the Mock Task Order be part of the Technical Volume?

RESPONSE 5. The technical quotation for the mock task order must be a part of the technical volume and can add seven pages to the technical volume.

QUESTION 6. If the Mock Task Order is a standalone volume is the seven page limit inclusive of cover page, table of contents and resumes?

RESPONSE 6. Yes.

QUESTION 7. If the Mock Task Order is part of the Technical Volume, is the seven page limit inclusive of the 25 page limit or is the page limit 32 pages?

RESPONSE 7. Reference response 5.

QUESTION 8. Should the offeror provide the Mock Task Order pricing in the Price Volume? If not, does the pricing count towards the Mock Task Order limit of seven pages?

RESPONSE 8. The mock task order pricing must be included in the pricing volume.

QUESTION 9. Do the table of contents and cover page count towards the 25 page limit?

RESPONSE 9. No.

QUESTION 10. Can the Government clarify if Task 3 in the Mock Task Order is due four or five months after start of period of performance?

RESPONSE 10. Five months.

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QUESTION 11. Can the Government clarify if Task 4 in the Mock Task Order is due five or six months after start of period of performance?

RESPONSE 11. Six months.

QUESTION 12. Can the Government please clarify which wage determination version number and date of revision the offeror needs to use for SCA purposes for the two geographic locations?

RESPONSE 12. Reference the Addendum to Instructions, Price Proposal-Base Contract which clearly reads:

“…Wage determinations are available at the U.S. Department of Labor’s on-line wage determination website, www.wdol.gov. The price proposal must reference the wage determination.”

QUESTION 13. The solicitation indicates that “Task Orders may require that the work be performed … in Gaithersburg, MD; Boulder, CO; and / or at cooperative program locations in section C.1.G…” Section C.1.G calls out three (3) divisions, but does not provide any locations – can NIST provide the location of these division or where work may be required in support of these divisions?

RESPONSE 13. The location of any and all divisions shall be within the sites identified in the statement of work.

QUESTION 14. Paragraph four (4) requires that “Offerors shall submit one original… and six (6) copies of the technical and price proposals” along with “one (1) copy of the complete proposal via e-mail.”

a. Can the government please confirm that seven (7) hard copies of the two (2) technical proposals and two

(2) price proposals are required, along with one (1) hard copy of the other business proposal, and one (1) electronic copy of all volumes via e-mail are to be submitted in response to this NIST STESS effort

b. If hard copies are required, should bidders plan to submit information to the CO in order to register their vehicle and obtain access to the NIST campus for hand delivery of hard-copy volumes? Would this notification be required at least 24 hours before the planned drop-off? Lastly, who should bidders contact to make arrangements?

c. In the event that bidders prefer to submit via carrier, please advise of the appropriate address where hard copy submissions should be mailed.

RESPONSE 14. (a) Offerors can submit hard copies OR electronic copies. Multiple copies are required for hard copy submissions only.

(b) Reference the provision titled Hand Delivery of Quotes or Proposals.

(c) Reference the provision titled Hand Delivery of Quotes or Proposals.

QUESTION 15. The solicitation states that the “Offeror agrees to hold the prices in its offer for 30 calendar days” while on the same page, it indicates that the “acceptance period shall not be less than 180 days” Will the

Government confirm the minimum number of days that the price proposal is required to be valid?

RESPONSE 15. The acceptance period shall be 180 days.

QUESTION 16. The solicitation states “Capability, Experience and Past Performance, when combined, shall be approximately equal in importance as price”. This seems to indicate that the pricing from each bidder will be given a score so that it can be compared numerically with the pricing from other bidders in the best value tradeoff process. However, RFP page 31 states that “the proposed labor rates and prices will be evaluated but not rated” and goes on to state that the “evaluation will determine whether the proposed rates and prices are complete and fair and reasonable.” This seems to indicate that the pricing will be evaluated in a binary manner as being Pass/Fail rather than as a score. Can the Government please provide more detail on how pricing will be evaluated and how the results of the price evaluation will be used in the best value tradeoff decision?

RESPONSE 16. The Government will consider price equal in merit to non-price factors with stronger consideration being given to the Capability evaluation factor as stated in the evaluation criteria. Price is not rated with a score, pass/fail or any other manner. The price evaluation will determine whether the proposed rates and prices are complete and fair and reasonable in relation to the labor categories proposed and the solicitation requirements. Proposed prices must be entirely compatible with the technical

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proposal. The proposed price of the mock task order will be evaluated for reasonableness, and to further determine the offeror’s understanding of the work required.

QUESTION 17. The solicitation states “Offerors must submit fully loaded labor rates … for all labor categories proposed by the Contractor.” In order for bidders to provide the very best pricing that is advantageous to the Government, bidders need to understand how the Government will score or compare pricing between various bidders, particularly if labor categories proposed by bidders can vary so widely. If each bidder defines their own set of labor categories, it seems to be like comparing prices for apples and oranges.

RESPONSE 17. The price proposal for each offeror must be consistent with that offeror’s technical proposal.

The solicitation is being awarded under the authority of FAR Part 15 Contracting by Negotiation.

Under this authority, proposals are not compared against each other. Proposals are evaluated against the evaluation criteria in the solicitation. Proposed prices will not be compared to other proposals.

QUESTION 18. May we request that the Government define the labor categories for this solicitation to make it possible to compare bidder pricing as ‘apples-to-apples’ across bids submitted?

RESPONSE 18. Reference the response to question 17.

QUESTION 19. The solicitation states “For the purpose of evaluation of capability, offeror shall provide documentation…” paragraph #7 asks for bidders to provide ‘a list of labor categories, including qualification criteria…’ Would the government consider excluding the list of labor categories from the 25-page limitation for the technical volume?

RESPONSE 19. The list of labor categories is a logical part of the technical proposal. It is not clear why this would be outside of the page limitation of the technical proposal.

QUESTION 20. The solicitation states “For the purpose of evaluation of capability, offeror shall provide documentation…” The final paragraph requests that bidders provide ‘letters of intent and / or letters of commitment from proposed consultants and / or subcontractors’ Would the government consider excluding the letters of intent from consultants / subcontractors from the 25 page limitation for the technical volume?

RESPONSE 20. Yes.

QUESTION 21. I did not see wording in the solicitation stating that this effort is contingent on the availability of funds. Can you confirm that this is correct and there are funds for this effort?

RESPONSE 21. Correct that there is not any wording in the solicitation that this effort is contingent on the availability of fund. The contract minimum will be funded at the time of award.

QUESTION 22. …I am unsure how many volumes to separate the proposal into or how many electronic/hard copies of each you need. …

RESPONSE 22. Reference the Addendum to 52.212-1. Offerors shall submit one original of their proposal, marked as such, and six (6) copies of the technical and price proposals. Only one copy of the business proposal is required to be submitted and reference response 14(a).

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QUESTION 23. Page 25, paragraph 3, reads: "Attachment I is a mock task order. Offerors shall also submit a technical and price quotation for the mock task order."

Question 1: Is the mock task order to be included in the Appendices of the technical proposal and therefore exempt from being included in the page count?

RESPONSE 23(1): Reference Response 5.

Page 25, paragraphs 4 and 5, read: "Offerors shall submit one original of their proposal, marked as such, and six (6) copies of the technical and price proposals. Only one copy of the business proposal is required to be submitted. Only one copy of the complete proposal is required to be submitted via email."

Question 23(2): Is one hardcopy of the business/cost proposal and one hardcopy of the technical proposal required or are an original and six (6) hardcopies of each the technical and price proposals required?

RESPONSE 23(2): Reference response 14a.

Page 26, subparagraph (4), last sentence, reads: "Resumes are limited to four pages."

Question 23(3): Are resumes included in the page count?

RESPONSE 23(3): Reference response 1.

Question 23(4): Does this denote four pages per resume or four pages total for all resumes combined?

RESPONSE 23(4): Reference response 2.

QUESTION 24. Can proposals be submitted electronically or is a hard-copy submission required as well? Are past performance descriptions and the resume included in the 25 page limit for the "Technical

Proposal - Base Contract"?

RESPONSE 24. Reference response 1 and response 14(a).

2. The due date for proposals is hereby changed as follows:

DELETE: December 12, 2017 at 3:30 PM Eastern Time;

ADD: December 14, 2017 at 3:30 PM Eastern Time.

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