Amendment_02_to_SOL-306-16-000049_FINAL.pdf

SOL-306-16-000049

Amendment 02

The specific details are:

1. In Section B.1 Purpose, ADD the following additional clarification:

“This BOA is issued in accordance to Section 7707 of Public Law 112-74, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012 (P.L. 112-74), Local Competition Authority.”

2. In Section H.6 ADS 302.3.5.17 Limitation on Subcontracting to Non-Local Entities (May 2012), DELETE it in its entirety and REPLACE with the following:

“(a) Applicability. This clause applies to (i) contracts that have been awarded to those local entities under the authority of and as defined in Section 7077 of Public Law 112- 74, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012 (P.L.

112-74), also known as "Local Competition Authority" and (ii) contracts awarded to local entities (as defined in Section 7077 of Public Law 112-74) under the authority at AIDAR 706.302-70.

(b) By submission of an offer and execution of a contract, the Offeror/Contractor agrees that in performance of the contract for-

(1) Services (except construction) at least 50 percent of the cost of contract performance incurred for personnel must be expended for employees of the prime/local entity.

(2) Supplies (other than procurement from a non-manufacturer of such supplies), the prime/ local entity concern must perform work for at least 50 percent of the cost of manufacturing the supplies, not including the cost of materials.

(3) General construction, the prime/ local entity concern will perform at least 15 percent of the cost of the contract, not including the cost of materials, with its own employees.

(4) Construction by special trade contractors, the concern will perform at least 25 percent of the cost of the contract, not including the cost of materials, with its own employees.

(c) By submission of an offer and execution of a contract, the Offeror/Contractor represents that it is an individual, a corporation, a nonprofit organization, or another body of persons that—

(1) Is legally organized under the laws of;

(2) Has as its principal place of business or operations in; and

(3) Either is—

(A) majority owned by individuals who are citizens or lawful permanent residents of; or

(B) managed by a governing body the majority of whom are citizens or lawful permanent residents of; a country in which this contract will be primarily performed.

(d) For purposes of this clause, “majority owned” and “managed by” include, without limitation, beneficiary interests and the power, either directly or indirectly, whether exercised or exercisable, to control the election, appointment, or tenure of the organization's managers or a majority of the organization's governing body by any means.”

3. In order to address concerns regarding the ability of entities to obtain Ministry of Commerce licenses at the time, the following change is hereby made:

In Section L.7.A.ii Technical Proposal Section 1: Local Entity Status, DELETE “2. Ministry of Commerce license.”

Therefore, there is no longer a requirement that Offerors provide the Ministry of Commerce license in their proposal.

4. In order to incorporate additional instructions regarding joint ventures and other consortiums, the following additions are included:

In Section L.7.A.i. Cover Letter, ADD the following:

Identify if the Offeror is a joint venture or other consortium of entities. If the Offeror is a joint venture, Offeror must provide an explanation of the joint venture structure.

In Section L.7.A.ii Technical Proposal Section 1: Local Entity Status, ADD the following:

“If the Offeror is a joint venture or other consortium of entities, the Offeror must include copies of the required documentation for each of the entities.”

In Section L.7.B.iii, Business Proposal Section 2: Section K Certifications and Representations, ADD the following:

“If the Offeror is comprised of a joint venture or other consortium, each member of the joint venture/consortium must complete and sign the representations and certifications that are set forth in Section K.”

In Section L.7.B.iv., Business Proposal Section 3: Partner Information Form, ADD the following:

“If the Offeror is a joint venture or other consortium of entities, the Offeror must submit Partner Vetting Information Forms for each member of the joint venture/consortium.”

In Section L.7.B.v, Business Proposal Section 4: Responsibility Determination, ADD the following:

“If the Offeror is a joint venture or other consortium of entities, the Offeror must submit sufficient information for each member of the joint venture/consortium.”

In Section M.3.1 Local Entity Requirements, ADD the following:

“If the Offeror is comprised of a joint venture or other type of consortium of entities, each of the members comprising of the joint venture/consortium, must be a local entity.”

5. In order to incorporate the reduction of the threshold cash balance necessary to demonstate financial capability, the following sections are amended:

In Section L.7 Instruction for Submission of Proposal, V. Technical Proposal Section 4: Financial Capabilities, DELETE in its entirety as REPLACE with:

“A. The offeror must provide bank statements showing a cash balance of at least US$75,000 or 5,000,000AFN during each of the past three (3) months. If bank statements are not available, the offeror must provide summaries of certified income statement and balance sheets for the past six months showing the above amount.”

In Section M.3 Technical Acceptability, 4. Financially Capabilities Requirements, DELETE in its entirety, and REPLACE with:

“a. The Offeror must demonstrate that it has had a cash balance of at least US$75,000 or 5,000,000AFN for each of the last three (3) months.”

6. On September 27, 2016, a Pre-Bidders Conference was held, in which the Contracting Officer provided a presentation of the requirements for submission of a proposal, which is attached hereto as Attachment A.

Numerous questions were also raised; these questions and responses thereto are attached as Attachment B. Note that if there is any discrepancy between the presentation and the responses to questions, the Attachment A responses have precedent.

(END OF AMENDMENT# 02)

Attachment A

Questions and Responses

1. If our company did not participate in the pre-bid meeting, are we still eligible to submit a proposal?

USAID response: Yes. The pre-bidders meeting was optional. Information discussed during the meeting is included in this Amendment No. 2. All eligible Afghan companies are encouraged to submit proposals in accordance with the solicitation requirements.

2. As per Attachment 9 – Proposal Checklist (Section 1: Verification of Local Entity Status); our company has all requested documents except the “Ministry of Commerce License”. Let me describe that recently the

Afghan Gov’t decided to merge the AISA organization with the Ministry of Commerce and then they will issue only one License under the name of “Investment License” for all type of private business firms and the type of business will be mentioned on the back side of the license paper. As we asked this license has not been started and it is under preparation and design. We want to know if we submit only AISA license plus other required documents without the Ministry of Commerce License, are we still eligible and will not be disqualified for this reason?

USAID response: USAID has agreed to remove the requirement that Offerors include the Ministry of

Commerce license. This is no longer a requirement .

3. The solicitation cover states that; “Offerors must specifically identify in which specific region, either Region 1 and/or Region 2, they wish to be considered.” Please guide us how we can identify our decision for selection of Regions. Is there any form or we should state it in an official letter. Also, please let us know if we can select some provinces from each Region; i.e. 3 provinces from Region 1 and 3 provinces from Region 2.

USAID response: Offerors must specify in their Cover Letter which specific region they seek to be considered. The regions cannot be further divided; in other words, an Offeror cannot select only certain provinces within the region. Offerors may select either Region 1 or Region 2, or may select both Region 1 and Region 2.

4. For ease of work, can we ask USAID to provide the editable versions of the Attachment Forms as mentioned in the Proposal Checklist and need to be completed and submitted by offerors (i.e. Machinery Details, Past

Performance Questionnaire, Attachment J-2, Attachment 3, Attachment J-6, and Attachment J-7.

USAID response: Amendment #1 includes editable versions of the Attachments for Offerors’ convenience.

5. Can a company have a subcontractor in order to provide machinery for the project site?

USAID response: A prime contractor is not prohibited from retaining a subcontractor that will provide machinery; this would be a similar mechanism as “leasing” of the equipment. In order to satisfy the requirements of Section M.3.3.b., the Offeror must provide similar documentation as though it was leasing such equipment. In other words, the Prime Offeror should include a copy of the subcontract that satisfies the information requested in Section L.7.IV.B. and demonstrate that that the subcontractor owns the machinery.

6. According to the Solicitation Attachment # 04, how many machines from each type must a company have to be eligible for the submission of the proposal?

USAID response: The Offeror must demonstrate that it has at least one of each of the items of machinery that are identified as required.

7. Can a BOA holder have more than one work order at the same time?

USAID response: It is not anticipated that at BOA Holder would have more than one work order at the same time. Work orders generally range in value between US$30,000 to US$300,000.

8. Who will be responsible for security at the project site?

USAID response: The Contractor is solely responsible for the security at the project site.

9. Does the BOA have a minimum Guarantee?

USAID response: No, the Blanket Ordering Agreement does not have a minimum ordering guarantee.

10. Dose USAID accept the bank statement from foreign bank accounts for satisfying the requirements of

Section M.3.4 Financial Capabilities?

USAID response: Yes, bank statements from foreign banks are acceptable.

11. Can you clarify the number of required project experience for proposal submission.

USAID response: See Section M.3.2. Past Experience Requirements.

12. If the reference is not available for past performance what should do the offerors?

USAID response: As set forth in the RFP, Section M.3.5 Past Performance Requirements, in the case of an Offeror without a record of relevant past performance or for whom information of past performance is not available or so sparse that no meaningful past performance rating can be reasonably assigned, the Offeror will be assessed a rating of “neutral.” A neutral rating of an Offeror will not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance.

13. If the reference for past performance does not send the form directly to USAID and send it to the offerors and then offerors send it the USAID, will affect its evaluation or not?

USAID response: The past performance reference must follow the instructions set forth in Attachment 5, the Past Performance Evaluation, which requests that the reference submit the form directly to USAID via email at oaainfrastructure@usaid.gov. This will ensure the integrity of the evaluation.

14. Regarding past experience, if an offeror subcontract any of their project, will this be counted as past experience of the offeror?

USAID response: Past experience working as a subcontractor is acceptable. Offerors must describe projects in Attachment 3.

15. In Joint Venture, if one party is US company and other party is Afghan company, can they bid for this project?

USAID response: This procurement is being conducted based on the Local Competition Authority, which requires that only local entities are eligible to submit proposals. The definition of a local entity is set forth in Section M.3.1.

16. If a company is interested to bid for both regions (Eastern, Northern) but has work experiences in only one region, may they bid for both or either region?

USAID response: Yes, the company can bid on both regions.

17. Can women owned companies bid for this project?

USAID response: Yes, women owned companies are highly encouraged to submit proposals.

18. Who will do the final acceptance for the Emergency Road Operation and Maintenance Work Order under

Work Orders?

USAID response: USAID will do the final acceptance for thework performed under any Work Orders that are issued through the Basic Ordering Agreement.

19. Would the Emergency Road Operation and Maintenance be just for highways?

USAID response: There is no limitation as to the type of road that USAID may request emergency road operation and maintenance be performed.

20. Given the size of most previous projects, would USAID consider reducing the financial capabilities requirement to a lower amount?

USAID response: USAID has taken into consideration concerns raised by bidders and has amended the solicitation as set forth above, such that the amount has been reduced to US$75,000 or

5,000,000AFN.

21. If the Offeror is a joint venture, can the Offeror rely on the projects of its joint venture?

USAID Response: Yes, the Offeror may include projects performed by different entities that constitute the joint venture.

22. If the Offeror has a subcontractor, can the Offeror rely on the projects of the subcontractor?

USAID Response: Yes, the Offeror may include projects performed by its subcontractors.

Note, however, that a subcontractor must comply with ADS 302.3.5.17 Limitation on Subcontracting to Non-Local Entities (May 2012) as set forth in Section H.6 of the solicitation.

23. If the Offeror has already completed the Section K Certifications and Representations as part of its SAM Registration, is it required to include the Section K certifications again?

USAID response: No. The Offeror is advised, however, to include a statement in the Business Proposal, Section 2 portion that states that the Certifications have been completed and are part of its SAM registration.

24. If the Offeror is already a prime contractor or subcontractor under a USAID contract who has already been deemed eligible, does the offeror still need to complete the Partner Information Form for vetting?

USAID response: Yes, the Offeror must complete the Partner Information Form for this solicitation.

Eligibility is based on each contract and is not transferable.

25. Could you please confirm that DFAR 5152.225-5916 MANDATORY ELIGIBILITY FOR INSTALLATION

ACCESS (OCT 2015) is not applicable and not a requirement for award of subjected contract.

USAID response: DFAR 5152.225-5916 is a US Department of Defense requirement and is not applicable to USAID agreemnts. USAID contracts are subject to AIDAR.

26. Standard Form 1442: what is the offeror’s offer validity period for this project as it is not mentioned in SF 1442?

USAID response: At Number 17 of Form 1442, the Offeror should provide the period of validity of its offer. As set forth in Section L.7.B.i., Offerors are required to make their offer valid for at least 90 days after the offer date.

Attachement B