Janitor-15-QA-2-Rev.docx

The Second Set of Questions and Answers (Qs&As) for the Janitorial Service Solicitation No. STH200-15-Q-0005

Question # 1: It is my understanding by the terms of the RFQ posted on FBO that this will be an open bid and that both US and Thai contractors may be expected to submit quotes directly to your office for evaluation and that it will be an LPTA procurement.

I just wanted to confirm that a company with adequate past performance and experience with government contracts in the field of environmental services, would be evaluated against Thai bidders (assuming they are also technically acceptable) based solely upon the total cost of the quote we would provide.

I ask because, while I do think we would do an excellent job, there is no way we would reasonably expect to compete with Thai prices directly as the sole criteria. Your confirmation could potentially save my division from wasting effort on a (hypothetically) hopeless bid.

Answer # 1: This will be a full and open competition. This acquisition is unrestricted and all responsible interested offerors may submit a quotation and the award will be made to be lowest priced, technically, acceptable responsible offeror, See Section 3 and 4 of the solicitation.

Question # 2: Please refer to your answers # 3, 22 and 23 as they relate to a firm fixed price (FFP) contract vehicle. Would the Government consider changing the Janitorial RFP contract type from FFP to Fixed Price with Economic Price Adjustment? Under the FFP, the Contractor bears all the risk in the event a local law is invoked to increase wages and may mitigate against this risk by increasing the overall cost of their bid.

The following clause would apply to a Fixed Price with Economic Price Adjustment contract.

DOSAR 652.216-71 - PRICE ADJUSTMENT (AUG 1999)

(a) The contract price may be increased or decreased in actual costs of direct service labor. The changes result from laws enacted and effective during the term of this contract by the Government of [insert name of country]. Direct service labor costs include only the costs of wages and direct benefits (such as social security, health insurance, unemployment compensation insurance) paid to or incurred for the direct benefit of personnel performing services under one of the categories listed in Section B of this contract. Price adjustments will include only changes in direct service labor costs incurred in order to comply with the requirements of law. No adjustment will be made under this clause with respect to labor costs of personnel not performing direct service labor under the categories of Section B, or for overhead, profit, general and administrative (G&A) costs, taxes or any other costs whatsoever.

(b) For the CO to consider any request for adjustment, the Contractor shall demonstrate in writing:

(1) That the change in the law occurred during the term of this contract and subsequent to the award date of this contract; and

(2) That the change in the law could not have been reasonably anticipated prior to contract award; and,

(3) How the change in the law directly affects the Contractor's costs under this contract.

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(c) The Contractor shall present data that clearly supports any request for adjustment. This data shall be submitted no later than 30 calendar days after the changes in the law have been made public. This data shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

(1) The calculation of the amount of adjustment requested; and,

(2) Documentation that identifies and provides the appropriate portions of the text of the particular law from which the request is derived.

(d) In order to establish the change between the requested adjusted rate and the original rate, the Contractor shall support the appropriate data and composition of the original rate and the requested adjusted rate. This shall include details regarding specific hourly rates paid to individual employees. For contracts paid in U.S. dollars, the Contractor's request for price adjustment shall present data reflecting:

(1) The exchange rate in effect on the date of the Contractor's proposal that was accepted for the basic contract; and

(2) The current exchange rate and its effect on payment of workers in local currency. The allowable adjustment shall be limited to the extent to which increases in direct service labor costs due to host country law changes are not offset by exchange rate gains.

(e) Only direct cost changes mandated by enacted laws shall be considered for adjustment under this contract. Changes for purposes of maintaining parity of pay between employees at the minimum mandated levels and employees already paid at levels above the newly mandated minimums shall not be considered. Therefore, if the Contractor elects to increase payments to employees who are already being paid at or above the mandated amounts, such increased costs shall be borne solely by the Contractor and shall not be justification for an increase in the hourly and monthly rates under this contract.

(f) Any request for adjustment shall be presented by signature of an officer or general partner of the Contractor having overall responsibility for the conduct of the Contractor's affairs.

(g) No adjustment shall be made to the contract price that relates to any indirect, overhead, or fixed costs, profit or fee. Only the changes in direct service labor wages (and any benefits based directly on wages) shall be considered by the U.S. Government as basis for contract price changes.

(h) No request by the Contractor for an adjustment under this clause shall be allowed if asserted after final payment has been made under this contract.

(i) This clause shall only apply to laws enacted by the [insert name of country] Government meeting the criterion set forth above in paragraph (b). No adjustments shall be made due to currency fluctuations in exchange rates.

Answer # 2: No, the Government would not consider changing the Janitorial RFQ contract type from Firm Fixed Price (FFP) to Fixed Price with Economic Price Adjustment. This is the firm fixed price contract. There is no clause for price adjustment. It is the responsibility of each offeror to determine proposed prices taking into account all performance, business and cost risks to perform the services required by this solicitation.