Section G IDIQ Contract Info.pdf

IDIQ CONTRACT INFORMATION

Description of Contract: This is a multiple-award Indefinite-Delivery Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract under which the contractors shall provide any or all of the services described in the contract Statements of Work, as applicable, and as detailed in individual task orders issued by a warranted contracting officer during the term of this contract.

The multiple-award IDIQ contract comprises a primary disaster and failure studies category and three distinct specific categories (earthquake, evidence preservation, and fire disaster and failure studies support). The primary category is open to contractors of all business sizes. The distinct specific categories are available only to small businesses. Task orders will be awarded within either the primary category or one of the distinct specific categories. NIST will determine which category a task order is applicable to.

Multiple Award Contract: The Government intends to award up to three contracts for the primary category and up to three contracts for each of the specific categories as a result of this solicitation. The Government reserves the right to include a small business reserve in each of the specific category contracts.

All proposals will be evaluated based on the evaluation factors detailed in section M of the RFP. A determination on whether the issuance of multiple awards is in the best interests of the Government will be made by the government during the evaluation process.

Minimum and Maximum Orders: The amount of all orders issued under the IDIQ contract shall not exceed $9,800,000.00 over the potential five-year ordering period.

The individual ceiling for each order under any category is $2,000,000.00. Contractors may exceed the individual ceiling with the consent of the Ordering Contracting Officer (OCO). The contractually obligated minimum amount each IDIQ contract holder is entitled to receive for the life of the contract is $500.00. This amount will be obligated and may be invoiced in the last month of the IDIQ contract if the awardee has not received a task order.

Task Order Procedures: The following procedures apply for the issuance of task orders.

a. Requesting Task Order Quotations. The IDIQ contract(s) may only be used for NIST requirements. Any warranted NIST contracting officer may issue Requests for Task Order Quotations (“RFQs”) and award task orders under this contract.

As a general matter, an RFQ will contain the following documents:

• Statement of Work / Performance Work Statement that includes all deliverables and reporting requirements

• Quotation due date and location to deliver quotation. Quotation due dates may be as short as within 48 hours after issuance of the RFQ at OCO discretion depending on the urgency of the requirement.

• Anticipated type of task order

• Period of performance of task order

• Technical and business quotation instructions

• Evaluation factors for award

Contractors shall not be paid for the costs of preparing task order quotations.

In extraordinary circumstances, task orders may be issued verbally by the OCO provided that the OCO provides the contractor with evidence that funds are available for the required performance. Following verbal authorization to proceed, documented by an email, the parties shall at the earliest opportunity memorialize the contract action consistent with FAR regulations. Parties are cautioned that oral contracts are an extraordinary remedy meant for extreme instances where services are needed in response to an unforeseen emergency.

Labor rates in any oral contract may not deviate from the rates specified in the IDIQ contract.

b. Fair Opportunity.

1. General. Fair opportunity for this IDIQ contract means that contractors within a category (primary or distinct specific category) may be afforded an opportunity to respond to any RFQ exceeding the micro-purchase threshold, subject to further limitation provided by FAR Parts 16 and 19 and the Small Business Reserve language identified in part 2 of this section.

Fair opportunity is satisfied if an OCO elects to set-aside a RFQ for any distinct specific category. Such set-asides do not require justifications for exemption from fair opportunity as required by FAR 16.505. Additionally, Contractors with contracts under any distinct specific category may participate directly in RFQs competed under the primary category.

An OCO may identify more than one category and issue the RFQ to multiple categories if they so choose.

2. Small Business Reserves. In accordance with 19.504(c)(1)(ii), the Contracting Officer may issue orders directly to one small business concern in any of the three specific scope categories for work that it can perform when there is only one contract award in that specific scope category to any one type of small business concern.

c. Exchanges. The OCO may determine, after a RFQ closes, that additional information is necessary to make an award determination to award a task order.

The following exchanges with contractors will not necessitate exchanges with all contractors:

1. Exchanges to clarify certain aspects of quotations or to resolve minor clerical errors;

2. Obtaining written agreement form the Contractor for incorporation of commitments/statements proposed by the Contractor in its technical or price quotations;

3. Any matter pertaining to past performance, including but not limited to exchanges on adverse past performance information, additional submissions or substitutes on past performance references, and responses to questions about submitted past performance;

4. Questions pertaining to locating information in quotations;

5. Requests for support for price information; and

6. Questions and answers concerning mathematical calculations.

d. Quotation Revisions. The OCO, at their discretion, may determine that quotation revisions are necessary prior to the award of a task order. In such an event, the OCO, at their discretion, may:

1. Not request revisions from contractors who have submitted quotations that would require substantial revisions and/or if the initial quotation is determined to be technically unacceptable;

2. Conduct exchanges on limited aspects of a quotation and/or limit revisions to only specific parts of the technical or price quotation based upon a determination that there is not a material impact to the other sections of the technical and price quotation;

3. Not provide information regarding all aspects of the evaluation of the quotation and limit the information provided to only the deficiencies and/or significant weaknesses or significant price issues;

4. Provide all contractors a common date by which all revisions are to be submitted.

e. Required Responses to all Task Order Request for Quotations. In response to all issued task order RFQs, all IDIQ contract holders eligible to respond to the RFQ are required to either 1) submit a timely quotation or 2) provide the OCO with a brief rationale explaining why a quotation will not be submitted. Such rationales shall be submitted no later than the response deadline of a given task order RFQ. Failure to adhere to these response requirements may result in contractor off-ramping from the IDIQ contract.

Only information received by or before the due date and time for quotations will be considered. It is the responsibility of each awardee to ensure that a quotation or brief rationale for no-quote is submitted such that it is received timely by the

Government. Late quotations, or portions thereof, will not be considered.

f. Acceptable Task Order Types. Firm-fixed-price, time and materials, and labor hour task orders may be issued under the IDIQ contract. Hybrids of these three contract types are also allowable for task orders.

For Firm Fixed Price (FFP) RFQs, contractors shall price the order by multiplying the quantity of hours of each required labor category against the rate listed in the pricing schedule and the cumulative extended total of all line items shall define the total task order value. RFQ responses must include hourly breakouts unless otherwise specified. Travel and other direct costs (ODCs), if applicable, may be estimated for each task order. Any amount negotiated for travel and ODCs will be added to the extended price of all ordered items to arrive at the total price for the task order; however, negotiated amounts for travel and ODCs will be awarded on a not-to-exceed basis and only authorized and approved expenses will be reimbursed. FFP task orders may be commercial (subject to FAR Part 12) or non-commercial.

For Time & Materials (T&M) or Labor Hour (LH) RFQs, contractors shall price the order by multiplying the quantity of hours of each required labor category against the rate listed in the pricing schedule and the cumulative extended total of all line items shall define the total task order value. Travel and other direct costs (ODCs), if applicable, may be estimated for each task order. Any amount negotiated for travel and ODCs will be added to the extended price of all ordered items to arrive at the total price for the task order. All task order line items using one of these contract types will be awarded on a not-to-exceed basis. Funds that remain unused following task order completion will be de-obligated. A T&M or LH task order may utilize the clauses cited in FAR Part 12 for commercial task orders, or FAR Part 16 for non- commercial task orders. The hourly rates in this contract include wages, overhead, G&A, and profit in accordance with FAR 16.601(b)(1).

g. Task Order Price Reasonableness

1. General. Although the labor rates on this contract have been determined fair and reasonable at the time of award, the OCO is still responsible for a determination of cost or price reasonableness for each task order.

2. Labor Rates. The ceiling fully-burdened hourly labor rates that shall be used by the Contractor for each labor category when providing an official task order quotation can be found in the “Schedule of Labor Rates” included within each IDIQ contract. The description of the minimum requirements for each labor category under this contract can be found in the “Schedule of Labor Categories” included within this IDIQ contract. In no event shall the labor rates identified in the “Schedule of Labor Rates” be exceeded for the corresponding labor categories during the corresponding period of the contract. The contractor may offer, and the Government may request, further price reductions in accordance with commercial practices and market forces at any point during the life of this contract. Such reductions in the labor rates would be incorporated through a bilateral modification to the base contract. In addition, the contractor may offer discounts off of the contract’s ceiling fully burdened hourly labor rates when responding to an RFQ for an individual task order.

3. Other Direct Costs.

i. Travel may be reimbursed at actual cost and as limited in FAR 31.205-

46. Contractors may apply indirect costs to travel if doing so is a part of the Contractor’s usual accounting practices and it is consistent with FAR 31.2. The OCO should (but may not if a specific circumstance requires a different approach) identify a not-to-exceed travel ceiling under a separate contract line item number (CLIN) on the task order.

Travel and ODCs will be estimated for each task order.

ii. Labor dollars will not be used to pay for ODCs nor ODC dollars used to pay for labor without a contract modification. Profit on travel and ODCs is not allowable under T&M task orders.

h. On-Ramp Procedures. The Contracting Officer will periodically review the total number of contractors to ensure adequate competition for task orders throughout the period of performance for each scope category. Over time, the total number of contractors may fluctuate due to various reasons including industry consolidation, significant changes in the marketplace or advances in technology, general economic conditions, or other reasons.

If the Contracting Officer determines that it is in the best interest of the government to open the IDIQ to new contractors, the Contracting Officer has the discretion to announce an open season at any time during the effective period of the IDIQ contract. The Contracting Officer may limit onboarding to one or more scope categories and may limit onboarding to either restricted or unrestricted pools.

The Contracting Officer will announce this open season by publishing a notice in the contracting opportunities section of www.sam.gov. The open season will be subject to applicable contemporaneous federal procurement laws and guidance, provide an estimate of the number of new awards that the Contracting Officer intends to make, and a new solicitation will be issued during this time. The evaluation criteria, instructions, and other solicitation content of the ramp-on solicitation may differ from the original Disaster and Failure Studies IDIQ solicitation based on the needs of the government at that time. Clauses, terms, conditions, and other requirements may also differ from the original Disaster and Failure Studies IDIQ solicitation.

Any contracts awarded under this section will not exceed the remaining period of performance of the existing Disaster and Failure Studies IDIQ contract. The ceiling value for the IDIQ contract will remain capped at $9.8 million. Any offeror receiving a contract under this open season will be eligible to compete on future task orders with the same rights and obligations of any other Disaster and Failure Studies IDIQ contractor subject to the terms and conditions of the IDIQ and applicable regulations.

The Government reserves the right to not proceed with any on-ramp during the life of the Disaster and Failure Studies IDIQ contract.

i. Off-Ramp Procedures. The Government reserves the right to implement off-ramp procedures, which would result in the removal of IDIQ contract holders.

The criteria for off-ramping may include, but is not limited to, contractor failure to comply with response requirements for task order RFQs and/or a contractor unsatisfactorily meeting the vehicle or Task Order-level requirements. If implemented, off-ramp procedures will remove contractors by initiating termination proceedings as appropriate.

j. Primary Small Business Subcontracting Plans. At the close of each IDIQ year of performance, Other than Small Businesses shall submit a report to the IDIQ Contracting Officer and Contracting Officer’s Representative that identifies small business subcontracting achievement across all task orders for the preceding 12-month period. This data will mirror what is included in the Individual Subcontracting Report and Summary Subcontracting Report that the contractor will upload to eSRS during the applicable reporting periods.