Attachment_0015_-_Cost_Price_Proposal_Requirements_-_Rev2.docx

Only change from 2017-11-08 version is note added to para 1.g.(1)

COST/PRICE PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS

1. General:

a. A proposal is presumed to represent the offeror’s best efforts to respond to the solicitation. Any inconsistency, whether real or apparent, between promised performance and cost or price should be explained in the proposal. For example, if the use of new and innovative techniques is intended, their impact on cost or price should be explained. If a business policy decision has been made to absorb a portion of the estimated costs, that approach should be stated in the proposal. Associated calculations showing the amount of the absorption should be provided. The burden of proof as to the cost/price credibility rests with the Offeror.

b. All costs/prices and expenditure profiles for this acquisition shall be stated in current U.S. dollars. Current dollars should be interpreted to include escalation where appropriate. The exceptions to this are:

(1) No escalation shall be applied to the material and equipment plug numbers for the option years (see paragraph 2.a.(2)(b) below).

(2) Any guidance provided on the assumptions tab, if any, of the Technical Exhibits (Attachments 0002 through 0010) for a specific GCC/ASCC.

c. All cost data is considered to be data other than certified cost or pricing data.

d. The cost/price proposals and all exhibits/attachments, etc., should be submitted in Microsoft Office or compatible format. Electronic spreadsheets should contain all working formulas and algorithms, be in the same format as the cost/price proposal, and should calculate proposed costs. Values within spreadsheets and worksheets that are based upon values or calculations in another spreadsheet or worksheet should be linked to the other spreadsheet or worksheet to facilitate understanding how the values were calculated or where they were derived from. Sufficient supporting details, formulas, calculations, documentation, explanations, etc., must be provided with the proposal to show how the costs in the Cost/Price proposal were developed. The proposal should be properly cross-referenced.

e. The offeror should ensure that all required data in its proposal is visible and accessible. The Government is not responsible for identifying hidden or inaccessible data.

f. The Government is under no obligation to correct proposal errors or omissions.

g. Fixed Fee:

(1) The Offeror shall apply its proposed fee percentage consistently within each task order proposal, except for non-fee bearing items, which should reflect zero percent fee. The Offeror shall not propose different fee percentages for different PWS paragraphs, contract periods, or the different contract line items. The fee percentage shall remain the same throughout the life of any resultant contract. The aforementioned requirements do not preclude proposing different fee rates for the different GCC/ASCC and Afghanistan task order proposals. If a GCC/ASCC (or Afghanistan) has multiple task orders, each task order within that GCC/ASCC (or Afghanistan) may have a different fee percentage, but within each task order, the requirement to apply fee consistently applies.

(2) In addition to any items the offeror proposes to be non-fee bearing, the following items shall be non-fee bearing: Defense Base Act insurance costs; Material and Equipment costs; Facilities Capital Cost of Money (FCCOM); Value Added Taxes; Incentive Pay above applicable Department of State Guidelines; Capital Investment Items; and any other regulatory exclusions.

2. Proposal Format Requirements: The offeror is required to provide cost and pricing information as specified below for all years/periods for each task order proposal. Unless provided elsewhere in this solicitation, the offeror’s proposals shall include all costs and fees necessary to perform the work. This includes any applicable taxes, duties, etc. The following applies to the offeror’s pricing proposals:

a. Grand Total Price Summary:

(1) For each task order proposal, the offeror shall provide a Grand Total Price Summary of the offeror’s total proposed cost plus fee using the tables in the tab labeled “Grand Total Price Summary” included in Attachment 0016, Cost Reimbursable Pricing Proposal Format. Formatting changes to the tables are permitted to accommodate automatic generation of the tables by means of a pivot table or other Excel method as long as the resulting tables are substantially similar in appearance, and all of the cost elements shown therein are included.

(2) The following is provided for the purpose of completing the Grand Total Price Summary:

(a) Transition Cost:

(i) The following plug numbers shall be inserted in the highlighted yellow cell in the table labeled “Transition Table”. This plug number shall be deemed to include all costs, including any FCCOM.

(ii) For the purpose of proposing and estimating fee, the offeror shall assume the entire plug number is fee bearing.

(b) Material and Equipment: The plug numbers below shall be inserted in the Materials and Equipment rows of the table labeled “Full Operational Capability Table” for each year of the full operational capability (FOC) costs. The offeror should not apply escalation for the option years.

b. For each task order proposal for the FOC period, the offeror shall provide separate summaries identifying total costs, total fees, and total cost plus fee proposed for each Performance Work Statement (PWS) paragraph and site activated in the worksheet labeled “Data Pkg for A.1 and H.2” of the appropriate “Tech Exhibit” (see attachments 0002 through 0010). These summaries shall be broken out by performance period. This shall be accomplished using the “Pricing by PWS-Site” tab included in Attachment 0016 – Cost Reimbursable Pricing Proposal Format as a sample format. For each task order, the offeror will prepare three copies of the sample format, with one copy identifying the proposed “Total Cost”, another copy identifying the proposed “Total Fee”, and the third copy identifying the proposed “Total Cost plus Fee” for each PWS and site by period, along with grand totals as shown at the bottom of the tabs. The following guidance is provided:

(1) The offeror shall populate the “PWS No.”, “PWS Description”, and “Site Code” columns using the activated “WBS Ref.”, “Service”, and “Site Code” designations from the “Data Pkg for A.1 and H.2” tab of the applicable Technical Exhibit (see Attachments 0002 through 0010), respectively. The activated WBS refs are those identified as “A.1” in the “Workload / H.2” column that contain an “X” in the “Activated” column.

(2) The offeror’s PWS numbers, descriptions, and site codes used in the three summaries shall be consistent with the “WBS Ref.”, “Service”, and “Site Code” designations from the “Data Pkg for A.1 and H.2” tab of the applicable Technical Exhibit. The offeror shall not change, add, or delete any WBS Ref numbers, service descriptions, or site codes, with the exception that the offeror may add additional site codes as appropriate to identify costs and fees proposed to be incurred at other locations such as a home office, field office, etc. If so, the additional site codes should be added to all three summaries under the appropriate PWS number at the bottom of the PWS number’s existing site list. The offeror should provide a table that cross-references offeror provided site codes to the actual location of the site. The Pricing by PWS-Site tab provides two PWS numbers, descriptions, and site codes as a guide to how the columns should be populated for each task order.

(3) As used here, “cost” refers to all costs, including labor, other direct costs, subcontracts, indirect costs, and facilities capital cost of money (if any), but not including the offeror’s fee.

(4) The amounts shown for each PWS/Site combination should not include the material/equipment plug numbers identified above in paragraph 2.a.(2)(b) or their associated overheads. Lines have been included near the bottom of the table to capture these costs and their associated adders. There is no requirement to distribute these costs by site for proposal purposes.

(5) A blank cell, or a cost/fee/price of $0 shown in the summaries for any given PWS number/site/period will be interpreted to mean that the offeror is proposing to perform the work for that PWS number/site/period at no direct cost or fee (as appropriate) to the Government.

(6) The “Grand Total” amounts shown in the “Total Cost Plus Fee” summary should be consistent with the grand total prices shown in the FOC table of the Grand Total Price Summary.

(7) Formatting changes to the tables are permitted to accommodate automatic generation of the tables by pivot tables or other Excel method as long as the resulting tables are substantially similar in appearance, and all of the activated PWS numbers, descriptions, and sites shown in the“Data Pkg for A.1 and H.2” tab of the applicable Attachment 0002 through 0010 are included.

c. For each task order proposal, the offeror shall provide a “Rates Table” in Microsoft Excel format that provides summary information on the offeror’s indirect rates (including fringes, direct labor overhead, general & administrative, and cost of money rates (if any)), factors, and fee. This table should identify all rates proposed for all periods covered by the proposal. The offeror may use the tab labeled “Rates Table” included in Attachment 0016 – Cost Reimbursable Pricing Proposal Format as the template for the Rates Table, or provide its own format. This table should provide the following information:

(1) Information on the offeror’s fiscal year. State whether the offeror’s fiscal year is on a calendar year basis, or another basis, and if so, identify the actual period of the fiscal year. Provide other information as appropriate.

(2) Provide the following information for each rate (for the fee rate, only the fee rate itself is required):

(a) Identification/description of the rate or factor.

(b) Year or period covered by the rate.

(c) The rate/factor itself.

(d) The allocation base the rate/factor is applied to.

(e) Brief summary of the basis for the rate/factor.

(f) For rates that are composite rates (e.g., a rate based on a blend of two or more fiscal year rates), provide information on how the rates were calculated. The rates table should contain calculations showing the development of the composite rates, with the composite rates linked to the calculations.

1. For each task order proposal, the offeror shall provide detailed supporting schedules (“schedules”) showing how the offeror calculated its proposed costs and fees shown in the “Total Cost”, “Total Fee”, and “Total Cost plus Fee” summaries. These schedules shall be submitted in a format substantially similar to the “Labor Details” and “ODC Details” tabs contained in Attachment 0016 – “Cost Reimbursable Pricing Proposal Format”[footnoteRef:1]. The yellow highlighted columns in these tabs are mandatory unless the notes therein provide otherwise. The remaining columns are examples of additional columns that may be needed depending on the offeror’s approach and accounting/estimating practices. The offeror’s schedules shall comply with the following: [1: ODC = Other Direct Costs]

(1) Only one schedule consisting of one table or list may be used for each of the “Details” tabs, for a maximum of two schedules. Each of these schedules shall be on its own Microsoft Excel worksheet, and each schedule shall not be spread out over two or more worksheets. The individual schedules may be combined if desired into one schedule. Offerors should consider using a combined schedule, as the use of one table will greatly simplify the preparation of the Grand Total Price Summaries and the “Total Cost”, “Total Fee”, and “Total Cost plus Fee” summaries by means of a Microsoft Pivot Table. If the offeror combines the schedules, the combined schedule should contain a column to identify whether the data contained in any row is labor or ODCs.

(2) The schedules must separately identify by PWS, period of performance, CLIN, and site all resources required to perform the work required for each CLIN, PWS, and site by period. These schedules shall include detailed identification of subcontractor resources and costs. The prime and subcontractor resources included in the schedules should not merely be summaries with links to a separate document that provides a detailed breakout of resources by CLIN/PWS/site. It should not be necessary for the Government to have to refer to another table or document to determine what specific resources are actually being proposed, and by whom.

(3) The PWS and site numbers used in the schedules shall be those identified in the applicable Technical Exhibit as discussed in paragraph 2.b.(2) above. The offeror shall not structure its proposal using its own work breakdown structure numbering scheme, or develop its own site codes, except as permitted by paragraph 2.b.(2) above.

(4) Each row of resources in the schedules shall be fully priced out to include the extended cost, all indirect costs, fee, and total price, with each distinct element of cost having its own column. The costs shown in the schedules should be calculated using formulas that point to the data contained within the schedules, rather than merely being links to calculations shown on other spreadsheets or worksheets. This does not preclude the use of links or lookups to other tables or worksheets to obtain rates (direct or indirect), labor hours, quantities, or unit costs.

(5) The offeror does not need to include the materials/equipment plug numbers in this schedule. They should be included in the “Total Cost”, “Total Fee”, and “Total Cost plus Fee” summaries, along with any applicable adders such as overhead, G&A, etc. The instructions included with the “Pricing by PWS-Site” tab explains how the plug numbers and any associated indirect costs are to be included in the summaries.

e. For each task order proposal, the offeror shall provide a “Subcontract Summary” in Microsoft Excel format utilizing the tables shown in the tab labeled “Subcontract Summary” contained in Attachment 0016 – “Cost Reimbursable Pricing Proposal Format”. Instructions are contained therein. As noted above, the detailed supporting schedules are required to identify the resources being provided by subcontractors. The “Subcontract Summary” provides a means to identify total subcontract costs for each subcontractor in Table 1. Tables 1 through 3 also provide a means to identify total small business dollars as well. Note that these tables do not require any further breakdown by PWS paragraph or site. Formatting changes to the tables are permitted to accommodate automatic generation of the tables as long as the resulting tables are substantially similar in appearance,

3. This solicitation incorporates FAR 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services. In the event any resulting contract is extended in accordance with FAR 52.217-8, the price for such an extension shall be at the rate for the last period of performance, prorated for the length of the extension. The proposed cost and price for the extension period for each task order shall be based on prorating the Offeror’s proposed cost and price for the last period of performance to reflect a six (6) month extension period. The pricing included on the “Grand Total Price Summary”, “Total Cost”, “Total Fee”, and “Total Cost Plus Fee” summaries, and the “Subcontract Summary” sheets shall show these costs, fees, and pricing in the provided columns. It is not necessary to provide calculations, details, or support for the extension costs and fees in the detailed supporting schedules.

4. Subcontract Cost or Price Proposals:

a. As used herein, the term “subcontractor” includes those entities as defined in FAR 44.101, and the Offeror’s divisions and subsidiaries,

b. General: All subcontract cost/price proposals shall be prepared and submitted in Microsoft Office format. References in the solicitation and attachments to “Offeror”, “Contractor”, etc., also refer to the subcontractor.

c. Cost Reimbursable Subcontracts:

(1) Those subcontractors whose total proposed cost plus fee for a given task order proposal’s FOC period (including the base year, all option years, and the FAR 52.217-8 Option to Extend Services period) exceeds the greater of two (2) percent of the prime contractor’s total proposed price for the FOC period or $750,000 shall submit their proposals prepared in accordance with Section L.10.1 of the solicitation.

(2) Those subcontractors whose total proposed cost plus fee for a given task order proposal’s FOC period does not exceed the above threshold may submit its proposal using its normal proposal methodology. The proposed costs shall be broken out by period, PWS paragraph number, CLIN, and site. These costs shall be further broken out by labor categories, labor types (i.e., US, Expat, LN, or OCN)[footnoteRef:2], and/or ODC/subcontract descriptions. The proposal shall clearly show all labor compensation costs paid directly to each employee for each labor category (see Section H.1 of the solicitation). Such compensation costs should be separately identified in the proposal. The labor categories and ODC/subcontract descriptions shall identify specific resources to be used in performance. They shall not be general descriptions such as “Labor”, “ODCs”, etc. The requirements contained in paragraph 2.b.(2) above apply to the PWS paragraph numbering and site codes used by the subcontractor. [2: Within the RFP, its attachments, and any resulting contract(s), OCNs may also be synonymously identified as Foreign Nationals (FNs) or Third-Country Nationals (TCNs).]

d. Firm Fixed Price Type Subcontracts: These requirements apply to all firm fixed priced subcontracts, regardless of dollar value. The subcontractor may submit its proposal using its normal proposal methodology. The price proposal shall be broken out by period, PWS paragraph number, CLIN, and site. The requirements contained in paragraph 2.b.(2) above apply to the PWS paragraph numbering and site codes used by the subcontractor. The price proposal shall identify the following as appropriate:

(1) Labor: The proposed price for each period, PWS paragraph number, CLIN, and site shall be broken out by labor category, with a further breakdown by labor type (i.e., US, Expat, LN, or OCN). Labor categories shall be specific, and not merely groups or summaries of labor categories. For each labor category proposed, identify the proposed labor hours, proposed FTEs, and proposed firm fixed rates or prices.

(2) ODCs/Subcontracts: The proposed price for each period, PWS paragraph number, CLIN, and site shall be broken out by item (i.e., description). Item descriptions shall be specific, and not merely groups or summaries of items. For each item in the breakout, provide its description, identification of the item as ODC or subcontract, proposed quantity, unit of measure, and proposed firm fixed rates or prices. If unit of measures are abbreviated, provide an acronym list to cross-reference the unit of measure code to its description.

e. If a subcontract contains both cost reimbursable and firm fixed priced components, each component shall conform to the appropriate submission requirement above.

f. Unless provided as Government furnished equipment/materials, the subcontractors should assume all material and equipment costs required for the services are included in the material and equipment plug numbers.

g. The labor and ODC cost/price breakouts required above are not needed for hotel/motel/housing rental subcontracts. The subcontractor’s normal proposal methodology is acceptable.

h. Those subcontractors performing in an OCONUS location shall provide an affirmative statement that the subcontractor understands and will fully comply with current host nation laws, including labor laws, throughout contract performance.

i. If a subcontractor desires to submit its detailed proposal data directly to the Government rather than through the offeror due to proprietary concerns, the subcontractor may do so. Such submissions shall be submitted in the same manner as required of the offeror as stated in Section L of the solicitation, and all solicitation provisions pertaining to the timeliness of submission and receipt are applicable to such submissions. It is the Offeror’s responsibility to ensure that all subcontractor submissions are timely received by the Government, and submitted in the manner required.

5. Guidance on Specific Items of Cost:

a. Defense Base Act waivers currently exist for Romania and Turkey. For proposal purposes, if offerors choose to use these waivers in their pricing, the offerors must assume that the waivers are valid for the life of the performance task orders (both waivers currently expire before the end of the performance task orders). Offerors are cautioned that both waivers contain conditions governing the waivers. The offeror’s proposals must still comply with these conditions. The waivers and their conditions may be viewed at the following website:

https://www.dol.gov/owcp/dlhwc/dbawaivers/dbawaivers.htm

b. While the awardee may be able to procure some items through the Federal Supply System (FSS) during performance, for proposal purposes offerors shall assume the FSS will not be available and material and equipment will be procured commercially. Offerors shall include in their proposed costs any costs associated with the purchase of the material and equipment.

c. Transition plug numbers: The transition plug numbers provided in paragraph 2.a.(2)(a)(i) above cover costs that are incurred in the transition period. They do not cover costs that reoccur in the base year or any of the option periods. If a cost reoccurs in the base year or later period, that reoccurring cost shall be proposed within the base year or later period.

d. Material and Equipment (M&E) plug numbers:

(1) The plug numbers provided in paragraph 2.a.(2)(b) above apply to the purchase of M&E as defined in FAR 45.101. For clarification purposes, this also includes the following:

(a) Personal protective clothing and equipment, including safety equipment.

(b) Freight costs for shipping M&E from vendor/supplier to the contractor’s initial place of receipt in theater, and any associated sales taxes, value added taxes, duties, and similar charges for the purchase or lease of the M&E.

(2) The items discussed below are not included in M&E. Any costs for these items should be included within the ODC Details tab of Attachment 0016. If the offeror needs to classify such costs as material or equipment to meet CAS or estimating system requirements, the offeror should classify such property accordingly using the column labeled Resource Type, or add another column as appropriate.

(a) The cost of services, including but not limited to services such as offeror provided aviation support where MILAIR is not provided (example: moving personnel or M&E within theater from one location to another by plane) or disposal fees for waste disposal.

(b) The cost of computer equipment, information technology, telecommunications equipment, company IT usage rates (or similar type charges), or internet/communications support costs required for the offeror’s internal business purposes.

(c) The cost of vehicles needed to transport employees from their in-theater domicile to the work location and back. Offerors are cautioned that Operation and Maintenance, Army (OMA) funding generally does not allow for purchase of vehicles. If offerors propose to purchase such vehicles rather than lease them, the offeror’s proposal should explain what exception to OMA funding allows for such purchases.

e. For clarification purposes, internet access/phone use for service performance is Government provided.