RFQ_CO201531090_Combined_Synopsis_Solicitation.doc

U. S. T R A D E A N D D E V E L O P M E N T A G E N C Y

SUBJECT: Request for Quote for Indonesia: Transportation Infrastructure Definitional Mission (DM)

SOLICITATION NUMBER:

RFQ-PO201531090

ISSUANCE DATE:

March 10, 2015

CLOSING DATE:

March 24, 2015, 4:00 pm EST This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial item prepared in accordance with the format in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 12.6 and procedures in Subpart 13.1 as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only Request for Quote (RFQ); quotations are being requested and written solicitation will not be issued.

This solicitation is being issued In Accordance With (IAW) FAR Subpart 13.104. The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the RFQ respondent who is deemed responsible and is determined, based on the evaluation factors, to represent the best value to the Government.

This procurement is a 100 percent Small Business Set-Aside with a small business size standard of $15M annual sales under NAICS Code 541690. Award is limited to U.S. Firms or U.S. individuals. Contractor and subcontractor personnel used shall be either U.S. citizens on non-U.S. citizens lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States. Contractor use of subcontractors is limited to less than fifty percent of the proposed price.

The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-78.

I. INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS

The provision at FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial, applies to this acquisition with addendum as follows:

1. Quotation Due Date: Your quotation (technical, past performance, and price) must be received no later than 4:00 pm EST on March 24, 2015. Late quotations will be processed in accordance with FAR 52.212-1(f).

2. Quotation Submission: Send your quotation by email to contractproposals@ustda.gov. Quotations submitted by fax or to alternate email addresses will NOT be accepted.

3. Questions Relating to This RFQ: All questions concerning this Task Order Request should be directed to Ms. Ijeoma Ezeonwuka at iezeonwuka@ustda.gov. The question cutoff date is 12 Noon EST on March 13, 2015. If your company chooses not to provide a quote, please notify Ms. Ezeonwuka No Later Than March 13, 2015. Please reference the Solicitation Number in the Subject Line of your email.

4. Notice Regarding Suspension/Debarment/Ineligibility: Any contract awarded to a contractor who, at the time of award, is suspended, debarred, and ineligible for receipt of contract with Government Agencies or in receipt of a notice of proposed debarment from any Government Agency, is voidable at the option of the Government.

5. System for Award Management (SAM) Database: All Contractors must be registered in the SAM database via https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ in order to be eligible for contract award. Lack of registration in SAM will make an RFQ respondent ineligible for award as described in FAR 52.204-7. However, do NOT delay submission of your quote pending receipt of a CAGE code.

6. Special Contract Requirements: This Request for Quotation (RFQ) includes the following additional contract terms and conditions:

· CONTRACTOR FOLLOW-ON (INELIGIBILITY): The Contractor and its subcontractors shall be ineligible to compete for, as a prime or subcontractor or otherwise, USTDA funded activities that result from this contract. USTDA reserves the right to grant a waiver, based upon FAR 9.503, if preclusion of the contractor or its subcontractors from the follow-on activity would not be in the Government's interest. This restriction shall remain in effect for three years from the completion of this contract. The contractor agrees to include this provision in all subcontracts to this contract.

7. Contract Clauses: The clauses at 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items and 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items, apply to this acquisition.

8. Definitional Mission Proposal Tips: Prospective contractors are encouraged to review the Definitional Mission proposal tips on USTDA’s website via the following link to better understand USTDA’s expectations for this Definitional Mission: http://www.ustda.gov/businessopps/dmproposaltips.asp

9. Responses Shall Be Submitted In Two Separate Volumes As Follows:

VOLUME I(a): TECHNICAL QUOTE:

Technical quote shall not exceed 15 pages in length. Any additional pages will not be evaluated. The RFQ respondent(s) shall confine submissions to essential matters, sufficient to define the quote and provide an adequate basis for evaluation. RFQ respondent(s) are responsible for including sufficient details, in a concise manner, to permit a complete and accurate evaluation of each quote. No material may be incorporated in the quote by reference in order to circumvent the page limitation.

The following documents are not included in the page limitation:

a. Cover Page

b. Table of Contents

c. Executive Summary: Although this section will not be evaluated, if included, it should allow technical reviewers to quickly understand the critical elements of the quote including the most salient features of the RFQ respondents’ technical vision and approach, the key personnel and capabilities to accomplish the desired results. This section shall be limited to 3 pages. Any additional pages will not be reviewed.

d. Resume/Curriculum Vitae (CV): Resumes/Curriculum Vitae (CVs) submitted as part of the quote, may not exceed 3 pages per person. Any additional pages shall not be reviewed.

VOLUME I(b): PAST PERFORMANCE:

a. Relevant Past Performance Information:

i. For all Offerors submitting a quote:

RFQ respondents shall submit a list of no more than three past performance references within the past five years, consisting of the contract number, the entity (federal, state, or local Government, or private sector) for which the work was performed, a summary of the relevant work, and the name of the person (e.g. contracting or technical) to be contacted with their address, telephone, and email address. Past performance will be considered relevant if the contract demonstrates relevant experiences that are similar in size, scope, and complexity to the effort described in this task order request.

The Government reserves the right to obtain past performance information from any available source, to include the U.S. Government’s Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS), and may contact customers other than those identified by the Offeror when evaluating past performance.

RFQ respondents are authorized to provide information on problems encountered on the identified contracts and the Offerors' corrective actions. The Government shall consider this information, as well as information obtained from any other sources, when evaluating the Offeror's past performance. The source selection authority shall determine the relevance of similar past performance information.

1. For RFQ Respondents WITH existing and relevant USTDA past performance

Per a.i. above, if some or all of the submitted three past performance references are from USTDA, USTDA will attempt to retrieve records for the referenced past performance effort either from the U.S. Government’s Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS) or from records internal to USTDA or from both. No further action is required by the IQC Contractor.

2. For RFQ Respondents WITHOUT existing and relevant USTDA past performance

Submit the Past Performance Questionnaire (Enclosure 3) to its submitted three references (see a.i.) for completion. The references (not the RFQ respondents) must return the completed Questionnaire to the email address indicated no later than the closing date of this solicitation. The Offeror is solely responsible for ensuring the questionnaire is completed and returned by the respective references on or before the deadline. Any past performance questionnaire returned directly by the RFQ respondents may not be considered. The Questionnaire includes instructions that must be reviewed and followed carefully. Responses must be typed into the provided, editable Microsoft Office Word Document Past Performance Questionnaire (RFP Enclosure 3).

In the case of an RFQ respondent without any record of relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not available FAR 15.305(a)(2)(iv) states that the RFQ respondent may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance. The RFQ respondents, in this case, shall be rated as “Unknown Confidence (Neutral)" - which is neither favorable nor unfavorable.

VOLUME II: PRICE:

Price Quote: RFQ respondents shall submit their price quote using Standard Form (SF) 1449- Solicitation/Contract/Order for Commercial Items. Each RFQ respondent should ensure the CAGE CODE and DUNS Numbers are placed in Block 17A and complete blocks 24 (with pricing information), 30A, 30B, and 30C.

RFQ respondents shall also submit a breakdown of the price quote in a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet complete with traceable formulas. The price quote excel spreadsheet must be accompanied with narratives (to support the price quote) in a word document. ALL PRICE NUMBERS SHALL BE ROUNDED UP. NO CENTS.

II. EVALUATION PROCEDURES

a. EVALUATION FACTOR 1: TECHNICAL: The following two subfactors are approximately equal:

Sub-factor 1: Relevant Technical Experience: The RFQ respondent's relevant technical experience on similar projects in the transport section and in the Southeast Asia region as it relates to the Statement of Work (SOW) shall be evaluated to determine the likelihood that the RFQ respondent can successfully perform the contract requirements and the degree of the risk of non-performance.

Sub-factor 2: Relevant Knowledge: The RFQ respondent's relevant knowledge of the U.S. industry and the global market in the sector per sections 6.1.2, 6.6, and 6.7 of the SOW shall be evaluated to determine the likelihood that the RFQ respondent can successfully perform the contract requirements and the degree of the risk of non-performance. The ability to meet the deliverables schedule per Section 2.0 of the SOW shall also be evaluated.

Sub-factor 3: Professional and Educational background: The RFQ respondent's Professional and Educational background to assess project financial viability in this sector per sections 6.1.2, 6.5 and 6.14.4 of the SOW shall be evaluated to determine the likelihood that the RFQ respondent can successfully perform the contract requirements and the degree of the risk of non-performance. The ability to meet the deliverables schedule per Section 2.0 of the SOW shall also be evaluated.

Technical Subfactors 1, 2, and 3 are all approximately equal. However, if the rating of any of the Technical Subfactors is Unacceptable, then such a rating will have a negative impact on the overall rating for the Technical Factor. In that case, the overall Technical rating will be Unacceptable —regardless of any rating (other than unacceptable) of the other Technical Subfactors.

b. EVALUATION FACTOR 2: RELEVANT PAST PERFORMANCE: Government's intent is to evaluate each RFQ respondent's past performance - including technical performance; timeliness of performance; quality/customer satisfaction; and cost control - to determine whether the RFQ respondent consistently delivered quality service in a timely manner in the past. This factor will be evaluated on the basis of relevant past performance information, including performance on contracts of a comparable nature scope and complexity to those in the current solicitation. The past performance information to be evaluated includes information regarding predecessor companies, key personnel who have relevant experience, or subcontractors that will perform major or critical aspects of the requirement when such information is relevant. The information presented in RFQ respondents' quotes, together with information from any other sources available to the Government (e.g., Government-controlled Contractor performance databases and references including contractual, technical, and end-user representatives) may be considered.

In the case of an RFQ respondent without a record of relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not available FAR 15.305(a)(2)(iv) states that the RFQ respondent may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance. The RFQ respondent, in this case, shall be rated as "Neutral" - which is neither favorable nor unfavorable.

c. EVALUATION FACTOR 3: PRICE: A price evaluation will be conducted in accordance with FAR 13.106-3 to determine completeness (i.e. all information required by the RFQ has been submitted and is accurate) and fair and reasonableness. The Government may also conduct price realism for the purpose of assessing whether an RFQ respondent’s unrealistically low price reflects on its understanding of the SOW requirements or the risk inherent in the RFQ respondent’s approach. Price quotes found to be unrealistically low (an indication of “buy – in”) will be ineligible for award. The evaluated price will be used in the tradeoff analysis between price and technical factors to determine best value. Discounts are encouraged. All price numbers must be rounded up. NO CENTS.

Award Basis: Quote will be evaluated on the following factors: Technical (i.e. Technical Experience and Technical Approach), Relevant Past Performance, and Price. Within the Technical Factor, Technical Subfactors 1 and 2 are approximately equal. Award will be made, using the tradeoff process, to the contractor whose quote represents the best value to the Government. The non-price factors (Technical and Past Performance) when combined are significantly more important than price. However, as technical merit of the quotes becomes more equal, price may become a determining factor.

Table 1. Technical Ratings: Technical factor and sub-factors shall be evaluated using the following adjectival ratings:

Table 2. Past Performance Confidence Assessments: Past Performance factor shall be evaluated using the following adjectival ratings:

Best Value Award Determination

The Government will award a purchase order to the RFQ respondent whose quote conforms to the SOW requirements and is determined, based on the evaluation factors, to represent the best value to the Government. The Government seeks to award to the RFQ respondent who gives USTDA the greatest confidence that it will best meet or exceed the requirements affordably. This may result in an award to a higher rated, higher priced RFQ respondent, where the decision is consistent with the evaluation factors and the Contracting Officer reasonably determines that the technical superiority of the higher priced RFQ respondent merits the additional price.

The Government may award based on initial quotes received, without further discussions. Accordingly, each RFQ respondent should submit their quote to the Government using the most favorable terms from a technical and price standpoint. Pursuant to FAR Part 15.306(c), if discussions are held, the Contracting Officer shall establish a competitive range of the most highly rated quotes. If the number of most highly rated quotes exceeds the number at which an efficient competition can be conducted, the Contracting Officer may limit the number of quotes in the competitive range.

Only one award will result from this RFQ. Quotes that do not address all requirements presented in the SOW may not be considered for award.

//Signed//

GARTH A. HIBBERT

Chief, Office of Acquisition Management Enclosures:

1. Indonesia: Transportation Infrastructure Definitional Mission (DM) Statement of Work

2. Past Performance Questionnaire

3. Standard Form 1449 � EMBED Word.Picture.8 ���

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