Section L and M - AFI - DRAFT.pdf

Section L – INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS

In order to be considered for award, Offeror must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) under North American NAICS 541219, Other Accounting Services (Size Standard $25M).

The Offeror’s proposal shall be submitted electronically. No hard copies or CD’s will be accepted. The proposal must be received by the Government before the deadline for proposal submissions listed in block 8 of the SF1449 form. Proposals shall remain valid for a period of 160 days from the date listed in block 8 of the SF1449 form. Proposals shall be submitted electronically through the Department of Defense (DoD) Secure Access File Exchange (SAFE) website at https://safe.apps.mil/. The SAFE system will provide a confirmation to the sender when files are transmitted successfully. It is the responsibility of the Offeror to allow adequate time to submit proposal files before the submission deadline. Any proposal that is received in the SAFE system after the appointed deadline is “late” and WILL NOT be considered for award.

The SAFE website provides the date and time that proposals are submitted. Any proposal that is not submitted in the SAFE system WILL NOT be considered for award.

All Offerors and Subcontractors that will be submitting proposal information to the Government shall request a link from the Contract Specialist, Samantha Hannah (samantha.l.hannah2.civ@army.mil) and the Contracting Officer Alexandra (Alex) Bryant (alexandra.c.bryant.civ@army.mil) by email no earlier than fourteen (14) days before the closing date of the solicitation. The Offeror will be sent a drop-off request with a link to use through the SAFE system. Note that a link is only valid for fourteen (14) days once it has been sent, and that it only allows a maximum of 25 files to be submitted. If more than 25 files are required to be submitted the Offeror will need to request a second link from the Government.

The Offeror’s proposal shall consist of five (5) Volumes. The Volumes are:

I. Executive Summary II. Technical (Factor 1) III. Past Performance (Factor 2) IV. Small Business Participation (Factor 3) V. Cost/Price (Factor 4)

Offerors shall submit all information that the Offeror wishes to have considered with the initial proposal. The proposal shall be clear, concise, and shall include sufficient detail for effective evaluation and for substantiation of the validity of stated claims. The Offeror shall present the information in sufficient detail for effective evaluation of the Offeror’s proposal against the evaluation criteria. The Offeror shall not simply rephrase or restate the Government’s requirements, but rather provide rationale that addresses how the Offeror intends to meet the requirements. The Offeror shall assume the Government has no prior knowledge of its capabilities and experience. Offeror’s proposals with vague or terse statements such as “will comply,” “noted,” and “understood,” etc. may not be accepted by the Government.

The Offeror shall submit documentation demonstrating their approach for satisfying the requirements of this solicitation. The Government will base its evaluation on the information presented in the Offeror’s proposal unless stated otherwise. Proposals must clearly demonstrate how the Offeror intends to accomplish the performance of work and must include convincing rationale and substantiation of all claims. The Offeror shall describe its proposal through the use of graphs, charts, diagrams, and narrative, in sufficient detail for the Government to understand and evaluate the nature of the approach. In its evaluation, the Government will consider the degree of substantiation of the proposed approaches in the proposal volumes.

The Offeror’s proposal must include all information requested and must be submitted in accordance with these instructions. The Government will consider how well the Offeror complied with these instructions when evaluating the Offeror’s capability to perform the prospective contract. Offerors are advised to ask the Contracting Office for clarification of any part of these instructions they do not understand. Questions shall be submitted to Samantha Hannah, Contract Specialist at the above email address no later than 12:00pm (noon) ET, 18 April 2024.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

1. The Offeror’s proposal must include all information requested and must be submitted in accordance with these instructions. Any Offeror who submits an incomplete package may not be evaluated. The offeror shall be compliant with the requirements as stated in the Performance Work Statement (PWS). Non-conformance with the instructions provided may result in an unfavorable proposal evaluation.

2. The Government does not desire excess verbiage, unnecessary and elaborate brochures, or lengthy, repetitious, disorganized presentations beyond that sufficient to present a complete and clear proposal. Proposals must not merely parrot back performance requirements, but rather must provide convincing evidence that the Offeror can actually fulfill performance requirements. Proposals received that fail to provide convincing rationale to address how the Offeror intends to meet the solicitation requirements may be determined unacceptable and may not be considered for award.

3. The Offeror’s proposal is presumed to represent its best efforts to respond to the solicitation. All inconsistencies, whether real or apparent, between promised performance and price shall be explained in the proposal. Unexplained inconsistencies, such as those appearing to result from the Offeror’s lack of understanding of the nature and scope of work for the overall solicitation, may be grounds for rejection of a proposal.

4. Content Requirements. All information shall be confined to the appropriate volume.

Information included in the incorrect volume will not be evaluated. Each volume of the proposal shall consist of a Title Page, Table of Contents (no more than two levels e.g. 1.1, 1.2), Summary Section and the Narrative discussion. The Summary Section shall contain a brief abstract of the volume. Proprietary information shall be clearly marked.

5. This procurement is subject to DFARS 215.306 and therefore, the intent of the Government is to favor discussions. However, the Government reserves the right to exercise its discretion not to enter into discussions in accordance with (IAW) DFARS

215.306 if it is determined that discussions are inappropriate. Therefore, the Offeror’s initial proposal should contain the Offeror’s best terms from a cost or price and technical standpoint. If the Contracting Officer conducts discussions, then such discussions will be held with Offerors whose proposals have been determined to be within the competitive range, IAW FAR 15.306(c). If the Contracting Officer determines that the number of proposals that would otherwise be in the competitive range exceeds the number at which an efficient competition can be conducted, the Contracting Officer may limit the number of proposals in the competitive range to the greatest number that will permit an efficient competition among the most highly rated proposals. Again, the Offeror’s initial proposal should contain the Offeror’s best terms from a cost/price and technical standpoint.

Offerors excluded from the competitive range or otherwise eliminated from the competition before award will receive prompt written notice of this decision IAW FAR 15.503.

6. No pricing information shall be in any volumes other than Factor 4 – Price, with the exception of amounts requested in Factor 3 – Subcontracting Plan, to support the Small Business Participation Plan. Proposals that fail to separate the price factor may be determined unacceptable and may not be considered for award.

7. The Government may, at its discretion, incorporate portions of the successful Offeror’s proposal, including information provided by the Offeror during discussions, into the resultant contract.

8. Each factor shall be submitted as a separate volume in accordance with the below table.

Each volume shall be written on a stand-alone basis so that its contents may be evaluated with no cross-referencing to other volumes of the proposal. The use of hyperlinks in the proposal is prohibited. Proposals shall adhere to the page count limitations below.

9. Pages that exceed the required page limitations will not be evaluated. Additional pages over the maximum allowed will be removed from the proposal by the Contracting Officer, prior to turning the proposal over to the Government evaluation team(s), and will not be considered in the evaluation. Documents shall use the following page setup parameters:

Margins – Top, Bottom, Left, Right – 1” Gutter – 0” From Edge – Header, Footer 0.5” Page Size, Width – 8.5” Page Size, Height – 11” Font – 12 point Arial or Times New Roman required.

Each paragraph shall be separated by at least one blank line. Tables, illustrations/graphics, and headers/footers may use a reduced font size no less than 8-point and may be landscape. All volumes and plans shall include pagination with the exception of any excluded pages as stated in the note under the table in number 11 below.

All pages of each volume shall be appropriately numbered and identified by the complete company name, date and Request for Proposal (RFP) number in the header and/or footer.

10. Each file name submitted shall be with the Volume number first, then the Volume Title/Description, then AFI, and lastly the company name which may be abbreviated. For example, “Vol 1-Executive Summary-AFI-XYZ Company”

11. File Packaging: Files shall be in read-only format, using PDF files except that all price breakdown information shall be submitted in Microsoft Office Excel unprotected format and viewable in Microsoft Excel versions 2016 and later. Please note – Self extracting .exe files are not acceptable.

Volume Title/Description Page Maximum 1 Executive Summary N/A 2 Factor 1: Technical

Section 1 – Technical Approach Section 2 – Key Personnel & Staffing Section 3 – Transition Plan

30 Pages

3 Factor 2: Past Performance 20 Pages 4 Factor 3: Small Business Participation N/A 5 Factor 4: Price N/A

Note: Pages that exceed the page limitation will not be evaluated. Page count includes all pages including but not limited to: body, table, graphics, figures, and all appendices. Cover sheet, table of contents, resumes, consent letters, letter of commitment/intent for personnel not currently employed, organizational structure, and acronym lists are excluded from the page count.

Additional pages over the maximum allowed will be removed and not read and will not be evaluated by the Government.

12. Restriction of Disclosure/Proprietary Information. If the Offeror wishes to restrict the disclosure or use of its proposal, use the legend permitted by FAR 52.215-1(e). Individual subcontractor/vendor proprietary information may be submitted via separate DoD SAFE procedures. The information contained in these emails must be referenced (title, page and section number as appropriate) within the main proposal where the information would have been included if it were not subcontractor/vendor proprietary. The information in these submissions is subject to all other requirements of the RFP.

Subcontractors can submit their OCI Identification and OCI Risk Management Plans directly to the Contracting Officer and Contract Specialist via the DoD SAFE procedures.

13. The Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) Risk Mitigation Plan will be assessed by the Contracting Officer. Based on the OCI Risk Mitigation Plan information required in Section L, if the Contracting Officer determines that the Offeror has an OCI that cannot be mitigated, then the Offeror may not be eligible for award. The OCI Risk Mitigation Plan is required to address any conflicts that may come up during the period of performance, as well as address existing OCI conflicts. The OCI Risk Mitigation Plan does not count against the page count. A statement or certification in a cover letter does not constitute a Risk Mitigation Plan.

PROPOSAL CONTENT REQUIREMENTS

Volume 1 – Executive Summary

Within this section, the Offerors shall provide a Title Page, a Table of Contents, and Summary Section. This volume shall include the following: (1) Request for Proposal number; (2) Company’s Name, Commercial and Government Entity (Cage) Code, and Tax ID No.; (3) proposal title; (4) point of contact and alternate, including last name, first name, street address, city, state, zip code, telephone, and electronic mail; (5) administrative point of contact, including last name, first name, street address, city, state, zip code, telephone, and electronic mail; (6) date proposal submitted; (7) proposal expiration date (valid minimum 160 calendar days); (8) signed solicitation form; (9) Organizational Conflict of Interest Identification and Risk Mitigation Plan;

(10) System for Award Management (SAM) record print out of the company/Offeror ’s “Core Data.”; (11) matrix of all proposed subcontractors that includes information from items 2 and 4 of this paragraph; (12) Completed Representations and Certifications (Section K).

1. Organizational Conflict of Interest Identification and Risk Mitigation Plan: The Offeror shall conduct due diligence and submit with their proposal an Identification and Mitigation Plan. This plan shall identify all facts that a reasonably prudent person would consider relevant in determining whether a potential conflict of interest currently exists or might arise under the performance of this contract. In accordance with FAR 9.505, the plan shall cover (a) the prevention of existing conflicting roles that might bias a contractor’s judgement and (b) the prevention of an unfair competitive advantage. In addition to other situations specified in FAR 9.505, an unfair competitive advantage exists when a contractor competing for award of a contract possesses proprietary information that was obtained from a Government official without proper authorization and/or source selection information that is relevant to the contract but is not available to all competitors of which would assist that contractor in obtaining the contract.

The Offeror shall identify, at a minimum all current contracts or financial interests that might be effected by the performance of the PWS. Additionally, the Offeror shall identify any potential conflicts of interest, as that term is defined in FAR part 9, that the Offeror reasonably believes could arise during the performance of this contract. The Offeror’s submission shall include any subcontractors or team members. Offerors should be aware that the technical, financial, and operational assistance efforts anticipated under this contract may implicate budgets, priorities, or recommendations of other service or product/system acquisition of the Army or Department of Defense (DoD). Accordingly, Offerors should be particularly sensitive to the potential conflicts that might arise should the Offeror or its affiliates/subcontractors have any financial interest in other DoD audit contracts where the Offeror may be in a position to evaluate remediation efforts performed in this contract. The accuracy of the findings presented shall be certified to the best of their knowledge and belief by an official authorized to bind the company.

If the conclusion reached by the Offeror is that no OCI exists, then a statement certifying that the Offeror (including subcontractors and affiliates) has no OCI issues relating to this RFP or contract, including supporting rationale, shall be submitted as well. In the context of OCI, involvement is defined as any participation or connection to a project, contract, program, or product which may create actual or perceived OCI. The Contracting Officer will review statements provided by each Offeror as to the work the company has performed; evaluate the submittals considering in-house knowledge as to the company's program support; and determine whether or not there is an OCI. This will include all subcontractors and affiliates. Subcontractor and affiliate OCI is equivalent to a prime contractor OCI.

To prevent the improper release or disclosure of information, or any actual or perceived personal or organizational conflict of interest that might arise in the performance of this contract, the contractor shall bring any potential conflicting relationships or financial interests held by the contractor, its key employees, or others executing performance on behalf of the contractor to the attention of the Contracting Officer throughout the life of this contract. If the Contracting Officer determines that an unacceptable conflict or violation exists, the contractor shall take the actions necessary to mitigate or eliminate the conflict or violation.

Additionally, the Offeror’s submittal shall include a mitigation plan to be reviewed and approved by the Contracting Officer. The mitigation plan shall provide verifiable means of eliminating any conflict of interest identified by the Offeror. The mitigation plan shall also describe the contractor's current policies for identifying, reporting, and preventing future organizational and personal conflicts of interest that might arise in the performance of this contract.

The Contracting Officer will review statements provided by each Offeror as to the work the company has performed or anticipates; evaluate the submittals considering in-house knowledge as to the company’s program support; and determine whether there is an adequate Identification and Mitigation Plan. Prior to award, if the Offeror's approach to mitigation is not deemed satisfactory by the Contracting Officer, the Contracting Officer may take other actions in accordance with FAR 9.504. The Government’s consideration of this information is for purposes of assessing the contractor’s OCI and proposed mitigation plan and is not otherwise part of the evaluation factors to be considered for award.

During contract performance, the contractor is responsible for ensuring compliance, both organizationally and individually, with regulatory and professional standards, including any standards relating to ethics, obtaining and releasing proprietary information, and individual or organizational conflicts of interest.

2. Subcontractors/Team Members/Affiliates. Offerors proposing subcontractors/team members/affiliates or other organizational elements not part of the entity submitting the offer shall provide evidence of the commitment from these organizations to perform as presented in the proposal. Examples might include teaming agreements, subcontracts, joint venture agreements, or other similar commitments. If the Offeror is a division or subsidiary of another company an organizational chart depicting all parent and affiliated companies of the Offeror shall be provided.

3. Personnel with Binding Authority. The Offeror shall provide the name, title, and contact information (current telephone number and email address at a minimum) of the personnel within the company who possess contractual binding authority and will be supporting the bid as well as any resulting contract award.

Volume 2 - Factor 1 – Technical

Section 1 – Technical Approach

Beginning in fiscal year 2018, the Army began audits of the Army General Fund Full Financial Statements. Over the past several years the Army has established a robust Financial Improvement Program focusing in the areas of Accountability, Risk Management, Financial Reporting, and Audit Remediation that encompasses all Army Major Commands and crosses numerous functional components including service provider interface and coordination. The ODASA-FOI administers the monitoring and execution of the Army’s Risk Management and Internal Control (RMIC), Financial Reporting, and Audit programs. The program has matured from a “Discovery” phase to its current phase as an audit response, remediation, and sustainment-centric program. The financial environment and related key internal controls are thoroughly tested for effectiveness, reliability, and sustainability. These efforts require a substantial investment in time and resources to assist the Army, its Commands and service providers to achieve its overall goal of creating a financial environment that is accurate, reliable, timely and auditable. This contract will provide audit infrastructure for a large-scale audit, (size and scope of the Army), to interact with the external financial statement auditors and provide audit liaison support to Army organizations, Commands, Service Providers, and other external stakeholders is key to the success of the audit. There is an inventory of open findings from an external Independent Public Accounting (IPA) firm, GAO, Department of Defense Inspector General (DoDIG), and the Army Audit Agency which apply to business processes, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and feeder systems that require resolution before the organization can obtain a clean audit opinion by FY 2027.

Based on the Offeror’s understanding of the PWS requirements and the audit readiness situation above, the offeror shall demonstrate a successful approach to the following:

A. The Offeror shall demonstrate their approach to successfully provide an audit infrastructure to interact with the external financial statement auditors and provide audit liaison support to Army organizations, Commands, Service Providers, and other external stakeholders.

B. The Offeror shall demonstrate their approach to successfully develop an integrated audit strategy and plan to overcome Army’s identified financial reporting and financial systems high risk areas.

C. The Offeror shall demonstrate their approach to successfully establish, prepare, and reconcile the Army’s Universe of Transactions (UoT) to include ERP systems and feeder systems data.

D. The Offeror shall demonstrate their approach to successfully verify the posting logic of the Army’s ERPs and develop a standard data categorization format.

E. The Offeror shall demonstrate their approach to successfully establish an auditable Fund Balance with Treasury (FBwT) reconciliation business process in accordance with guidance in the Treasury Financial Manual.

F. The Offeror shall demonstrate their approach to successfully providing rules, guidance, validation, framework, and expert knowledge to support third-party design and implementation of the Information Technology General Controls that provide DoD’s IT systems auditable controls.

G. The Offeror shall demonstrate their approach to successfully identify a comprehensive strategy to reduce the number of Journal Vouchers and adjustment produced by the Army in the reporting of its financial data and identify transactional documentation required to support the adjustment.

H. The Offeror shall demonstrate their approach to validate the Existence and Completion, and Valuation of DoD General Equipment, Real Property, and Army Operating Material and Supplies.

I. The Offeror shall demonstrate their approach to successfully execute change management and communications activities.

J. The Offeror shall demonstrate their approach to successfully monitor Internal Controls.

K. The Offeror shall demonstrate their approach to successfully address audit challenges focusing on a strong control and compliance environment and effective risk management (A-123 /Enterprise Risk Management). Important to this effort is integrating an enterprise Governance Risk, and Compliance (eGRC) solution.

L. The Offeror shall demonstrate their approach to successfully use best practices, as well as known and widely used production quality commercial off the shelf (COTS) tools, techniques and templates to complete audit readiness assessments and implement recommendations.

M. The Offeror shall demonstrate their approach to successfully provide Audit Governance and Management.

N. The Offeror shall demonstrate their approach to successfully identify improvements to Army’s budget execution business processes.

Section 2 – Key Personnel and Staffing

The Offeror shall demonstrate how the organization will be staffed to accomplish the tasks outlined in the PWS. The Offeror shall outline plans to hire and retain qualified personnel to meet the requirements of the PWS. The Offeror must address the following to demonstrate their ability to provide qualified personnel with the experience necessary to perform the type of work required.

A. Key Personnel and Resumes: For all positions designated as Key Personnel in Section

1.10.2 Requirements by Labor Category of the PWS, the offeror shall submit resumes for twelve (12) individuals; three (3) per each Key Personnel Labor category (Director, Senior Manager I, Program Manager, and Manager I) addressing the PWS education, certification, and experience requirements. The offeror shall submit resumes for 3 of the proposed Director personnel, 3 of the proposed Senior Manager I personnel, 3 of the proposed Program Manager personnel, and 3 of the proposed Manager I personnel.

Resumes may not exceed three (3) pages each. Additionally, the Offeror shall include signed letters of intent (one page max) for any of the proposed Key Personnel specified in the PWS who are not currently employed by the Offeror. Letters of intent shall include the individuals name, contingent start date, and position/title, which indicate that the individual has accepted an offer of employment (with the prime contractor or major subcontractor) contingent on successful contract award. Award of a contract will constitute the Government’s acceptance of initial Key Personnel. The contractor shall maintain its proposed key personnel requirements for the duration of the contract to include all option years. For any change in key personnel after commencement of the contract, the contractor shall submit a resume to the COR to verify compliance with its proposed education and experience requirements.

For each of the Key Personnel resumes submitted, Offeror shall demonstrate how their work experience directly relates to audit or audit readiness activities as specified by the PWS requirements and provide specific examples from those experiences where the individual was instrumental in the successful design and/or implementation of a corrective action to overcome a financial statement audit issue within that organization.

For the examples provided, describe the problem, the solution, and the outcome using both quantitative and qualitative measures. Examples can be related to an auditor identified Notice of Finding and Recommendation or an internally identified issue.

Key Personnel resumes shall describe their effort in the project and its relevance to this PWS. The Offeror shall demonstrate key personnel experience, if any, with the DoD Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Logistics Systems and/or DoD financial, audit improvement and remediation efforts. Key Personnel resumes shall demonstrate experience with and understanding of, proposed responsibilities and address the requirements in Section 10.1 of the PWS. The Government may assess Key Personnel resumes demonstrating experience with DoD or other comparable federal agencies more favorably.

Key Personnel resumes shall include a Positive statement of possession of appropriate current and active security clearance (DO NOT STATE ACTUAL CLEARANCE LEVEL

OR BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION INFORMATION).

B. Identify how Key Personnel fit into the overall organization and identify the proposed responsibilities for each Key Personnel, PWS 1.10.

C. Identify methods/procedures in hiring and retention of qualified personnel. PWS 1.10.

D. Provide an organizational structure that is aligned with the technical specifications of the PWS, to include adequate quantities of personnel and labor categories. The organizational structure shall be submitted in Microsoft Office Excel unprotected format and viewable in Microsoft Excel versions 2016 and later and shall contain the following information:

a. Position description

i. Position title

ii. PWS reference

iii. Indicate if key or non-key position

iv. Indicate if prime or subcontractor position

v. Labor Category

vi. Relevant competencies/skill levels/certifications as required by labor category

vii. Identify if current employee, contingent hire, or position to be filled

(TBD)

viii. Identify if full-time (100%) or fractional time commitment

E. The offeror shall submit a Management Plan which demonstrates sufficient controls for successfully managing the entire workforce and detailing the availability of current personnel, the offeror’s ability to recruit new employees and replace those who depart, its ability to provide replacements with equivalent qualifications, and how quickly these replacements can be on-boarded.

F. The offeror shall submit a training plan that successfully demonstrates that all proposed personnel will be trained and remain current in their training.

G. The Offeror shall demonstrate their approach to ensure that General Certification from offerors and subcontractors’ security officer(s) that all proposed personnel possess the required security clearances as specified in PWS Section 1.6.7 and is verified in Defense Information System for Security (DISS).

Section 3 – Transition Plan

The offeror shall demonstrate their approach to successfully transition-in work from the incumbent vendor with minimal disruption to ongoing operations. The transition-in activities shall occur prior to the end of the incumbent contract period of performance and shall not exceed 90 days. All Key Personnel shall begin performance on the first day of the transition-in period and all remaining employees shall begin performance no later than the 45th day of the transition-in period.

The transition-in shall be accomplished within no more than 90 days and the approach to the transition-in shall provide the following:

A. Clearly demonstrates a reasonable, realistic approach for assuming full contractual responsibility without disruption or degradation of performance during the transition period.

B. Identifies risk and proposes appropriate mitigation strategies.

C. Proposes a realistic, achievable, and efficient transition schedule and staffing plan.

D. Ensures sufficient resources are on hand and available to begin work on the effort.

E. Details an approach to ensure the availability of trained and qualified personnel.

The transition-out shall be completed on the last day of the period of performance and in accordance with FAR 52.237-3 Continuity of Services. The transition-out plan shall:

A. Enable a smooth transition to replacement services and ensure no disruption in service when the existing contract performance period ends.

B. Provide support for 90 days to the selected contractor if the incumbent contractor is not selected herein.

C. Allow for the transfer of knowledge, experience and lessons learned to the new contractor.

D. Include a process to appropriately transfer all property, documentation, digital and hard copies of all in-progress working files, historical files, and briefings for incoming personnel, timelines, and standards for completion.

Volume 3 - Factor 2 – Past Performance

Offerors shall provide narrative descriptions for up to three (3) contracts for the prime Offeror and no more than two (2) for all major subcontractors of performance during the past five (5) years from the date of issuance of the final solicitation, which are relevant to the services and supplies required by this solicitation. Data concerning the prime Offeror shall be provided first, followed by each of the proposed major subcontractors, in alphabetical order. The Offeror shall also submit the written consent of its major subcontractors to allow the disclosure of its subcontractor’s past performance information to the Offeror. In addition, letters of commitment shall be included for all major sub-contractors, or their past performance will not be considered.

A “major subcontractor” is defined as a member of the Offeror’s overall team who is expected to perform 10% of the total proposed price. A “recent” contract is defined as one that has performance during the past five (5) years from the date of issuance of the final solicitation, which is relevant to the efforts required by this solicitation. A “relevant” contract is defined as having similarity of service/support, complexity, dollar value, contract type, and degree of subcontract/teaming to the effort to be acquired through this source selection.

The Government reserves the right to use alternative resources to gather past performance information. The Government may independently obtain information from other sources, which may be used to evaluate past performance against the requirements set forth in the solicitation.

Past performance information is used to assess how well the Offeror or major subcontractor(s) performed on contracts for the same or similar items and/or services as an indicator of how well they will perform the proposed requirements. Offerors with no past performance shall so state.

This volume shall be organized into the following sections:

1. Section I – Contract Descriptions. This section shall include the following information in the following format and shall clearly indicate how the contract effort is both recent and relevant:

a. Contractor/Subcontractor place of performance, CAGE Code and Data Universal Number System (DUNS). If the work was performed as a subcontractor, also provide the name of the prime contractor and Point of Contact (POC) within the prime contractor organization (name, and current address, e-mail address, and telephone and fax numbers).

b. Government contracting activity, and current address, Procuring Contracting

Officer's name, e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers.

c. Government’s technical representative/Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR), and current e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers.

d. Government contract administration activity and the Administrative Contracting

Officer's name, and current e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers.

e. Contract Number and, in the case of Indefinite Delivery type contracts, GSA contracts, and Blanket Purchase Agreements, include Delivery Order Numbers also.

f. Contract Type (specific type such as Time and Materials (T&M), Firm Fixed Price

(FFP) or Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF)). In the case of Indefinite Delivery contracts, indicate specific type (Requirements, Definite Quantity, and Indefinite Quantity) and secondary contract type (T&M, FFP, CPFF, etc.).

g. Awarded price/cost.

h. Final or projected final price/cost.

i. Original delivery schedule, including dates of start and completion of work.

j. Final or projected final delivery schedule, including dates of start and completion of work.

2. Section II – Performance. Contract narratives shall describe the objectives achieved and detail how the effort is similar to the requirements of this solicitation including skills mix.

a. For any contracts that did not/do not meet original cost, schedule or technical performance requirements provide a brief explanation of the reason(s) for the shortcomings and any corrective actions taken to avoid recurrence.

b. The Offeror shall list each time the delivery schedule was revised and provide an explanation of why the revision was necessary.

c. The Offeror shall also provide a copy of any Cure Notices or Show Cause Notices received on each contract and a description of any corrective action taken. The offeror shall indicate if any of the contracts listed were terminated and the type and reasons for the termination.

d. The Offeror shall identify any problems encountered during performance and how they were resolved and any other constraints similar to those expected to be encountered in performance of this solicitation.

3. Section III – Past Performance Questionnaire (PPQ). A PPQ (Solicitation Attachment J-

TBD) shall be completed and submitted for all contracts identified in Volume 3. The Offeror shall complete Part I of the questionnaire and e-mail the questionnaire to the Government Contracting Activity and/or technical representative responsible for the past/current contract. The POCs shall be instructed to electronically complete Part II of the questionnaire and email the entire questionnaire to the Contracting Office no later than XX MMM YYY, one week prior to the proposal due date, to Samantha Hannah at samantha.l.hannah2.civ@army.mil. (CPARs reports shall not be submitted in lieu of the

PPQ).

The Offeror shall include a list of all the POCs who were sent a questionnaire in the proposal. The POC List shall include the following information: Solicitation Number;

Company Name; Contract Number; Government Agency; POC Last Name, First Name;

POC Title; POC Telephone Number; POC E-mail Address; and Date E-mailed to POC (month/day). The Government will focus its inquiries on the Offeror’s (and major subcontractor’s) record of performance as it relates to all solicitation requirements, including cost, schedule, performance, and management of subcontractors. Completed questionnaires shall NOT be collected by the Offeror or included in the Offeror’s Past Performance proposal.

Volume 4 - Factor 3 – Small Business (SB) Participation

All Offerors (both other than small businesses (OTSB) and small businesses) shall submit a Small Business Participation Commitment Document (SBPCD) as outlined in Attachment – SBPCD, and provide substantiating documentation to demonstrate how the Offeror will meet the objective for the Government to use Small Business Concerns to the maximum extent practicable. The Offeror shall follow the instructions set forth below and in the SBPCD. The information that the Offeror provides will be used to evaluate the Offeror’s proposed participation /commitment to use U.S. small businesses in the performance of this acquisition (as a small business prime, joint venture, teaming arrangement, and/or small business subcontractors) relative to Section M, Volume 4 – Small Business Participation. The SBPCD will be incorporated into the base contract vehicle as binding commitments and are considered enforceable contractual requirements.

NOTE: The SBPCD outlines the "specifics" or the "how" or the "details" of the Offeror’s firm intentions to maximize the utilization of small businesses within this acquisition. The Offeror shall articulate small business contributions to contract performance at the Prime contract through first tier subcontract levels. Second and lower tier small business subcontractors will not be considered towards the total small business participation percentage. Small Business Participation annotated in the Offeror’s SBPCD is a separate requirement from the FAR 19.704 Subcontracting Plan Requirements, which will only be reviewed for acceptability for the Offeror deemed to be apparent awardee.

The Offeror shall provide the Prime Offeror’s Size as outlined in the SBPCD.

Pursuant to FAR Part 19, the Government’s objective is that Small Business Concerns (SBC) are used to the maximum extent practicable in the Offeror’s proposed approach to satisfy the requirements of this solicitation for the entire performance period. The Offeror shall identify SBCs that are to be used in their proposed approach to satisfy the requirements. As outlined in the SBPCD, the Offeror shall:

Identify the type, variety, and complexity of work to be performed by small business firms in accordance with Part 5 of the PWS.

Describe and demonstrate a substantive commitment to small business firms.

The Offeror shall provide the participation percentage of small businesses in terms of the Total Contract Ceiling Value, as outlined in the SBPCD.

The Total Contract Ceiling Value for this requirement is the total $249,999,999.99 USD. For this requirement the Governments market research shows that a minimum of 25% of the work can be performed by small business concerns; therefore, the minimum quantitative requirement has been established at 25%.

The Offeror shall provide explanation and documentation to support small business participation percentages. Binding commitments shall become enforceable, contractual requirements.

Large business contractors may achieve the small business participation requirements through subcontracting to small business. Small business contractors may achieve small business participation requirements through their own performance/ participation as a prime and also through a joint venture, teaming arrangement, and subcontracting to other small businesses.

NOTE: All supporting documentation is excluded from the page count. Supporting documents will not be incorporated into any resulting contract.

The Offeror shall submit past performance information to demonstrate that it complied with the requirements of FAR 52.219-8, Utilization of Small Business Concerns, for the past five years, as outlined in the SBPCD. Information included here will not be evaluated for Volume 3 – Past Performance.

Only Other Than Small Businesses (OTSB) shall provide a separate Small Business Subcontracting Plan that contains all of the elements required by FAR 52.219-9. The Small Business Subcontracting Plan shall be submitted separately from the information required above and in the SBPCD that both OTSB and small businesses are required to submit. The plan, at a minimum, shall address the elements set forth in FAR Clause 52.219-9(d)(1) through (15).

Subcontracting Plans shall reflect and be consistent with the commitments offered in the SBPCD. OTSB Firms shall submit acceptable subcontracting plans to be eligible for award.

Subcontracting plans will only be reviewed for acceptability for the Offeror deemed to be apparent awardee. The Small Business Subcontracting Plan will be incorporated into the resultant contract and is excluded from the small business page count limit.

The work to be performed directly by a small business Prime Offeror shall be evaluated as Small Business Participation. Small business Prime Offerors shall include their information in the above requested subparagraphs and SBPCD as required.

The SBPCD, which is an enforceable, contractual requirement, shall require periodic progress reporting to facilitate government monitoring in the event of an award. The Offeror shall propose annual reporting of the requirements set forth in the SBPCD paragraphs 1-3 (contractor format is acceptable) in accordance with CDRL (# TBD) – Small Business Utilization Report.

Offerors that have enforceable agreements shall provide fully executed copies (i.e., the entire agreement and not just first and last pages). An enforceable commitment is defined as a written and signed agreement (by both parties) detailing that all parties have agreed to a business relationship for this procurement; the agreement shall be specific in nature. The agreement shall be clear that both parties have defined and agreed to the extent of the relationship to include the type or types of work the subcontractors/partners shall perform. These agreements are excluded from the small business page count limit.

A small business joint venture offeror must submit, with its offer, the representation required in paragraph (c) of FAR solicitation provision 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Products and Commercial Services, and paragraph (c) of FAR solicitation provision 52.219-1, Small Business Program Representations, in accordance with 52.204-8(d) and 52.212-3(b) for the following categories:

(A) Small business;

(B) Service-disabled veteran-owned small business;

(C) Women-owned small business (WOSB) under the WOSB Program;

(D) Economically disadvantaged women-owned small business under the WOSB Program; or

(E) Historically underutilized business zone small business.

Note: Percentages will be rounded to the nearest whole number.

Volume 5 - Factor 4 – Cost/Price

This solicitation is for a commercial hybrid Firm Fixed Price (FFP) and Time and Materials contract for services and the necessary travel and Other Direct Costs (ODCs) to support those services. Under the contemplated contract, Key Personnel will be priced on a FFP basis for each task order and all other labor as well as travel and ODCs will be priced on a T&M basis for each task order. A 90-day FFP transition-in period is required and shall be priced in accordance with the attached price model spreadsheet.

This volume shall include pricing documentation and a complete detailed cost/price narrative with supporting information. The offeror and any subcontractor(s) shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with the Service Contract Act (SCA) for any applicable labor categories.

The offeror shall ensure that the appropriate analysis is completed for any subcontractor(s) in accordance with the subcontractor contract type and relationship. In accordance with FAR 15.404-3(b) Subcontract Pricing Considerations, the prime contractor shall conduct appropriate price analyses to establish the reasonableness of proposed subcontractor(s) prices and include the results of these analyses in the price proposal.

The total evaluated price (TEP) will be the sum of all proposed Contract Line-Item Numbers (CLINs).

1. In order to establish the ID/IQ ceiling pricing and Task Order #1 pricing (TO1), the

Government will provide the estimated labor categories skill mix and level of effort (LOE) hours within the price volume for the three (3) year contract ordering period and the Year 1 performance period, and the contractor shall provide the fully burdened labor rates associated with the given levels of effort, in accordance with the provided price proposal models titled Price Proposal Model Base IDIQ.XLSX and Price Proposal Model TO1.XLSX (Solicitation Attachments X and Y). No variance from these hours is permitted.

2. Under this solicitation, the total cost/price proposed is the sum total of the contractor’s proposed fully burdened labor rates factored against the prescribed number of hours for each labor category plus normalized travel and ODCs with applicable indirect burdens.

3. A completed and totaled Section B shall be submitted with the offerors price proposal. A completed copy of Price Proposal Model Base IDIQ.XLSX and Price Proposal Model TO1.XLSX shall also be included with all offeror price proposals as discussed in paragraph (4) below. A proposal is presumed to represent the offeror's best effort to respond to the solicitation. Any inconsistency with other sections of the offeror's proposal (i.e. technical proposal), whether real or apparent shall be explained in the proposal.

4. The offeror is required to complete the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet models attached to this solicitation (Price Proposal Model Base IDIQ.XLSX and Price Proposal Model TO1.XLSX). The offeror shall submit completed copies of these models in an Excel 2016 and later-compatible, readable format inclusive of all formulas and any linked data as part of their price proposal (any applicable linked data shall be included within the submitted spreadsheet file). The offeror may alter the rows, columns, and certain formulas in the spreadsheets to accommodate the nuances of the offeror's accounting and estimating systems, however the overall format and formula functionality shall be maintained within the submitted spreadsheet. The Government has provided the required labor categories and hours within the cost volume for the three (3) year contract ordering period. Labor hours in each labor category may be sub-allocated between the prime and proposed subcontractors if performance is to be separately performed by a prime and sub(s).

5. Each Offeror and its subcontractor(s) shall provide whatever information is necessary to help the Government understand why the proposed prices are fair and reasonable in the Price Narrative. Each Offeror's cost/price proposal shall contain sufficient quantitative and narrative documentation to adequately support and explain the prices proposed, to include subcontractor proposed costs. The Offeror and its subcontractor(s) shall disclose the location (Government site or the Contractor site per the PWS) of each proposed labor category’s performance in their respective cost proposal(s).

6. CLINs with an ESTIMATED normalized amount for other direct costs (ODCs) and travel have been specified for proposal purposes. Each Offeror is to include these amounts in their proposals. Any material handling and/or General & Administrative expenses (G&A) are to be applied to travel/ODCs as appropriate. Since travel and ODCs are estimated amounts that may or may not occur, no fixed fee/profit will be proposed or accepted.

Since a T&M type CLIN is included for ODCs, offerors will need to submit documentation demonstrating/validating the adequacy of the offeror's accounting system, FAR 16.301-3(a)(3). Also please indicate if the Offeror's accounting system has been verified as adequate by the Defense Contact Management Agency (DCMA) or the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) within the last three years. If it was found adequate or inadequate, provide a copy of the audit report with the cost/price proposal. If Offeror's accounting system has not been found adequate by DCMA/DCAA, or has NOT been examined by DCMA/DCAA, provide documentary evidence with respect to

Offeror's accounting system and the criteria at DFARS 252.242-7006(c), including a completed SF 1408. If available, please provide a copy of any current Forward Pricing Rate Agreement (FPRA) or Forward Pricing Rate Recommendation (FPRR) to support proposed rates. If not available, in the appropriate tabs within the cost model, provide three years of cost element history and five years of estimated costs, by cost element, to correspond to the Period of Performance in this solicitation.

7. If only one offer is received in response to this RFP, the Government may request additional information to include data other than certified cost or pricing data.

8. Accounting System: Offerors are to have an accounting system adequate to the contract type as determined by the Contracting Officer.