A07_-_INSTRUCTIONS_TO_OFFERORS_0001.pdf

Section L - Instructions to Offerors

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

1. INTRODUCTION

This is a Request for Proposal (RFP) under W911QX-17-R-0003. The Government anticipates at least two (2), but no more than four (4) base contracts, with ordering periods of five (5) years from the date of award, as a result of the issuance of this RFP. The total maximum ceiling for contract holders shall not exceed $45,960,411.42. The guaranteed minimum award for the basic IDIQ contract awards is $3,500. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 541611 and the Size Standard is $15.0M. The primary Federal Supply Class/Service (FSC/SVC) Code is R699.

The offeror’s proposal shall be submitted electronically to the AMRDEC Safe Access File Exchange (SAFE) https://safe.amrdec.army.mil/SAFE/. Files shall not contain classified data. The use of hyperlinks in proposals is prohibited. The offeror’s proposal shall consist of the following volumes: 1) Set #1 consisting of four (4) volumes for the MA CPFF IDIQ and 2) Set #2 consisting of three (3) volumes for the Sample Task Order (TO). The volumes shall be organized as follows:

a. Set #1. MA CPFF IDIQ (Basic PWS)

i. VOLUME I – Technical

• Management & Personnel o Contract/Program Management Structure and Approach o Communications o Internal Controls o Adequacy of Work Force o Availability

• Recruitment & Retention o Recruitment Plan o Retention Plan

• Understanding of Work to be Accomplished o Completeness and Accuracy o Clarity o Soundness of Approach

ii. VOLUME II – Past Performance

iii. VOLUME III – Cost (Labor Category and Rate Breakdown)

iv. VOLUME IV - Solicitation, Offer and Award Documents and Certifications/Representations

b. Set #2. Sample TO (Sample TO PWS)

i. VOLUME I – Technical

• Management & Personnel o Contract/Program Management Structure and Approach, if different from Basic

PWS approach o Communications, if different from Basic PWS approach o Internal Controls, if different from Basic PWS approach o Adequacy of Work Force o Availability

• Recruitment & Retention o Recruitment Plan o Retention Plan

• Understanding of Work to be Accomplished o Completeness and Accuracy o Clarity o Soundness of Approach

ii. VOLUME II - Past Performance

iii. VOLUME III – Cost (Full Cost Proposal) https://safe.amrdec.army.mil/SAFE/

The offeror’s files shall not contain classified data. Additionally, the use of hyperlinks in proposals is prohibited.

Offerors are cautioned that “parroting” of the Technical requirements or the Basic PWS and Sample TO PWS with a statement of intent to perform does not reflect an understanding of the requirement or capability to perform. Offerors are responsible for including sufficient details to permit a complete and accurate evaluation of each proposal. The Offeror shall ensure that Proprietary information is clearly marked.

Questions concerning this solicitation must be submitted in writing to Rebecca Patterson, rebecca.b.patterson.civ@mail.mil and Bryan Hoffman, bryan.p.hoffman2.civ@mail.mil by 10:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time (ET) on 04 January 2017. All questions concerning the solicitation must include Company Name, Point of Contact and Title, Telephone Number, Email Address and Fax Number. Questions received without the aforementioned information will not be answered. No additional questions will be accepted after this deadline.

Questions will be answered by the issuance of a solicitation amendment.

During the conduct of this acquisition, the Acquisition Source Selection Interactive Support Tool (ASSIST) will be used by the Government to support the proposal evaluation and source selection process. A separate tool, the ASSIST2Industry, will be used in conjunction with ASSIST to accomplish all exchanges with Offerors after receipt of proposals pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.306. ASSIST2Industry provides the ability for the Government to issue, and the Offerors to receive and respond to, all Evaluation Notices (ENs) in a secure online environment.

In order to initiate the use of ASSIST2Industry, the Government requires the names, company titles, telephone numbers, and email addresses of two (2) individuals that the Offeror has designated as responsible for receiving and responding to Government ENs through ASSIST2Industry. The designation of two (2) individuals is for the purpose of ensuring availability of one (1) individual if the other individual is not available. The required information regarding these two (2) individuals must be submitted with the Offeror’s proposal and included in the cover letter.

After the solicitation’s closing date, the Government will establish an account in ASSIST2Industry for each individual identified by the Offeror that has submitted a proposal in response to this solicitation. The two (2) individuals named by the Offeror will be authorized access to that account. Two (2) separate system generated emails will be sent to each individual. One (1) of the emails will contain the individual’s ASSIST2Industry username. The other email will contain the individual’s temporary password. Using the provided username and temporary password, each individual can then go to https://ASSIST2Industry.army.mil to access the account.

NOTE: The first time a user logs in, the user will be required to change the temporary password before the user can proceed to use the site.

Whenever the Government issues ENs to the Offeror through ASSIST2Industry, the Government’s Contracting Officer will notify the Offeror through a medium independent of ASSIST2Industry ( e.g., e-mail) that the Offeror has ENs in ASSIST2Industry waiting for a response. There will be no ENs in ASSIST2Industry until such notice is issued by the Contracting Officer.

All Offerors are advised that ASSIST2Industry has been updated and it is now the responsibility of PRIME Contractors to establish accounts for their SUBCONTRACTORS to respond to Government ENs. A separate area within ASSIST2Industry has been created to allow authorized Subcontractor POCs to upload proposal files only.

Subcontractors will not be able to access any other information on the ASSIST2Industry website (e.g.

Questions/Evaluation Notices, Responses, etc.). Once a Subcontractor has been added, they will receive a user ID (e.g. subcontractor0001) and password (an initial password) that will be sent via two separate system generated e-mails. A Subcontractor will have one user ID for all PRIMES and solicitation responses, i.e. if you are a Subcontractor to multiple Prime Contractors and multiple solicitation responses, you will only have one user ID.

Once an account has been established for the Subcontractor, go to https://ASSIST2Industry.army.mil access the account. Prime Contractors will only be able to see the number of files submitted by their Subcontractors; but, w ill be UNAB LE TO VI EW the Su bco ntra ct o r’ s files.

NOTE: Both Prime Contractors and Subcontractors are instructed to review the ASSIST 2 Ind us tr y User ’s G uid e, lo cated und er the “Getti n g Sta rted ” tab o n the web site. T he guid e has b een up d ated and p ro vid es step b y step instructions on how to perform functions and navigate the website.

Draft Solicitation Release Draft Solicitation Question & Answer (Q&A) Submission Date Q&A Response Date Solicitation Released Solicitation Closing Date

01 November 2016 11 November 2016 01 December 2016 23 December 2016 22 February 2017 mailto:rebecca.b.patterson.civ@mail.mil mailto:bryan.p.hoffman2.civ@mail.mil https://assist2industry.army.mil/ https://assist2industry.army.mil/

Offerors can contact the ASSIST2Industry Helpdesk via e-mail at: usarmy.jbmdl.acc.list.vce-helpdesk@mail.mil or by telephone at (609) 562-5988 or (609) 562-7050 for any technical assistance that may be needed.

THE OFFERORS ARE CAUTIONED THAT THE SYSTEM GENERATED EMAILS REFERRED TO ABOVE

ARE INTENDED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE PURPOSES ONLY. RECEIPT OF THESE EMAILS DOES NOT

CONSTITUTE THE COMMENCEMENT OF ANY TYPE OF EXCHANGE WITH THE OFFEROR IN

ACCORDANCE WITH FAR 15.306(A), (B), OR (D) (I.E., CLARIFICATIONS, COMMUNICATIONS, OR

DISCUSSIONS). ALSO, RECEIPT OF THESE EMAILS DOES NOT SIGNIFY THAT A COMPETITIVE

RANGE DETERMINATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH FAR 15.306(C) HAS BEEN MADE OR THAT THE

OFFEROR’S PROPOSAL WILL BE INCLUDED IN THE COMPETITIVE RANGE WHEN THAT

DETERMINATION IS MADE. ALL NOTIFICATIONS THAT ANY TYPE OF EXCHANGE WITH THE

OFFEROR HAS COMMENCED AND THE OFFEROR HAS EVALUATION NOTICES (ENS) AVAILABLE TO

RESPOND TO, OR ANY NOTIFICATION THAT THE OFFEROR’S PROPOSAL HAS BEEN INCLUDED IN OR

EXCLUDED FROM THE COMPETITIVE RANGE, WILL BE SENT TO THE OFFEROR BY THE

CONTRACTING OFFICER INDEPENDENTLY OF THE ASSIST2INDUSTRY.

2. PROPOSAL SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

The offeror’s proposal shall be submitted electronically to the AMRDEC SAFE https://safe.amrdec.army.mil/SAFE/.

Any pages that are changed (as a result of negotiations or proposal revisions) should be in track changes. The revised pages shall be dated. Each volume shall be clearly labeled with its title.

Each volume shall be single spaced. Each paragraph shall be separated by at least one (1) blank line. A standard, 12-point minimum font size applies. Arial or New Times Roman fonts are required. Tables and illustrations may use a reduced font size no less than 8-point and may be landscape.

The following volumes of material shall be submitted:

Volume Title Maximum Pages MA CPFF IDIQ (Basic PWS) I – Technical 25 II – Past Performance Prime- 10; SubK/JV-5

III - Cost N/A IV – Solicitation, Offer and Award Documents and Certifications/Representations N/A Sample TO (Sample TO PWS) I – Technical 10 II - Past Performance 5 III – Cost N/A

NOTE: Pages that exceed the required page limitations will not be evaluated. Table of Contents, Cover Pages, Summary Sections, Compliance Matrix, Manpower Charts, Letters of Intent, Contract Work Breakdown Structure, Letters of Commitment (for all proposed Key Personnel), Resumes, and Quality Assurance Surveillance Plans (QASP) are excluded from the page count.

3. PROPOSAL FILES

a. Format. The submission shall be clearly indexed and logically assembled. Each volume shall be clearly identified and shall begin at the top of a page. All pages of each volume shall be appropriately numbered and identified by the complete company name, date, and solicitation number in the header and/or footer. A Table of Contents should be created using the Table of Contents feature in MS Word. MS Word (.doc or docx) files shall use the following page setup parameters:

Margins – Top, Bottom, Left, Right 1” mailto:usarmy.jbmdl.acc.list.vce-helpdesk@mail.mil https://safe.amrdec.army.mil/SAFE/

Gutter – 0” From Edge – Header, Footer 0.5” Page Size, Width – 8.5” Page Size, Height – 11”

The following additional restrictions apply:

a. File Packaging. All of the proposal files shall be compressed (zipped) into one file entitled proposal.zip using WinZip version 6.2 or later, or as separate uploads in their native format, i.e. doc, docx, xls, ppt, etc.

**Please note Self extracting .exe files are no longer accepted.**

b. Content Requirement. All information shall be confined to the appropriate file. The offeror shall confine submissions to essential matters, sufficient to define the proposal and provide adequate basis for evaluation. Offerors are responsible for including sufficient details, in a concise manner, to permit a complete and accurate evaluation of each proposal. Each file of the proposal shall consist of a Table of Contents, Summary Section, and the Narrative discussion. The Summary Section shall contain a brief abstract of the file. Proprietary information shall be clearly marked. The following shall be included in the Narrative discussion:

(i) VOLUME I – TECHNICAL

The Technical Volume shall be clear, concise, and include sufficient detail for effective evaluation and for substantiating the validity of stated claims in the Offeror’s proposal. The Offerors shall submit the technical documentation to support the Contract requirements set forth in this solicitation. The Offerors shall submit the technical documentation to support the Contract requirements set forth in this solicitation. Legibility, clarity and coherence are very important. Offeror’s responses will be evaluated against the Technical Factor with three (3) Subfactors: (1) Management and Personnel; (2) Recruitment and Retention; (3) Understanding of Work to be Accomplished, as defined in Section M, Evaluation Approach. The proposal should not simply rephrase or restate the Government's requirements, but rather shall provide convincing rationale to address how the Offeror intends to meet these requirements. Offerors shall assume that the Government has no prior knowledge of their facilities and experience, and will base its evaluation on the information presented in the Offeror’s proposal.

The volumes for the Basic IDIQ and Sample TO shall be organized into the following sections:

(1) Section 1-Subfactor (a): This subfactor evaluates the offeror’s Management and Personnel. The offer will provide information that substantiates:

(i) Contract/Program Management Structure and Approach

(ii) Communications

(iii) Internal Controls

(iv) Adequacy of Work Force

(v) Availability

(2) Section 2-Subfactor (b): This subfactor evaluates the offeror’s Recruitment and Retention. The offer will provide information that substantiates:

(i) Recruitment Plan

(ii) Retention Plan

(3) Section 3-Subfactor (c): This subfactor evaluates the offeror’s Understanding of Work to be Accomplished.

The offeror will provide information that substantiates:

(i) Completeness and Accuracy

(ii) Clarity

(iii) Soundness of Approach

Technical Documentation. The Offerors shall submit the technical documentation necessary to support the Basic PWS and the Sample TO PWS set forth in this solicitation. The Offerors shall ensure their technical documentation addresses the following (at a minimum):

1) A contract and management structure that provides the necessary control, management and supervision over personnel at each place of performance.

2) Channels of communication between the Government and offeror to provide for efficient and timely resolution of contract performance issues.

3) Internal management control mechanisms to avoid the appearance of inherently governmental functions and personal services.

4) Ability to manage the day-to-day operations of the work and services as set forth in the Basic PWS and

Future Task Orders and includes examples from most recent and relevant efforts (within the past three (3) years).

5) Ability to respond to fluctuating workloads (e.g. ramping up/ramping down, turnover, surges and decreases) in requirements.

6) Personnel have the current knowledge, skills, and educational requirement in the disciplines required by the Basic PWS and Sample TO PWS, with sufficient business acumen to work with world class scientists and engineers.

7) Personnel that meet the requirements set forth in the Basic PWS and Sample TO PWS are available to support the contract effort.

8) Recruitment strategies and experience for identifying, recruiting, vetting, preparing, hiring, and onboarding highly trained Administrative and Technical staff with the appropriate background, knowledge, skills/expertise necessary to meet the requirements established in the Basic PWS, Sample TO PWS, and Future Task Orders.

9) Describe local area employment markets, identify any challenges/ constraints for each area and how their plan proposes to overcome them assuring highly qualified, highly trained, and specialized subject matter expert personnel are made available at contract commencement, task order issuance, and/ or as a backfill to vacant positions, to support the contract effort.

10) Effective use of a recruitment plan and details on each stage of the recruitment and selection process when recruiting Key Personnel and Sample TO proposed personnel that meet the requirements detailed in the Basic PWS and Sample TO PWS.

11) Specific measures used to incentivize and capture candidates who might not otherwise accept a position in its standard offer (etc. financial and nonfinancial incentives such as pay raises, awards, and recognition).

12) Procedures that will be used to verify the qualifications of candidates prior to placement.

13) A plan to retain, support, and replace (when necessary) Contractor personnel, including a description of the local area labor markets and how the proposed plan supports the recruitment and retention goals.

14) A plan to foster a stable workforce, maintain low employee turnover rates, and ensure no position is vacant for greater than 30 days.

15) Procedures to ensure Contractor personnel meet and maintain the skills/expertise necessary to fulfill the requirements established in each TOR and this PWS on day one (1) of placement at the job site.

16) A Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) that ensures proper oversight of personnel, training, certifications, subcontractors, and compliance with Operational Security requirements (Reference C.13 in base PWS).

17) Procedures for addressing Contractor staff performance issues in terms of not meeting quality, timeliness, professionalism and other related performance requirements associated with the performance of duties.

18) Procedures for identifying and removing any personnel not adequately performing required activities.

19) Procedures to minimize disruption to Government requirements caused by employee turnover or employee vacation or sick leave.

(ii) VOLUME II – PAST PERFORMANCE.

This volume shall contain past performance information regarding similar contracts. The Government will focus its inquiries on the offeror’s (to include Major Subcontractors and Joint Venture Partners) record of performance as it relates to all solicitation requirements, including cost, schedule, performance, and management of Subcontractors.

Major Subcontractors are defined as members of an offeror’s overall team who are expected to perform 10 percent or more of the proposed effort. If a Joint Venture is not assigned, the Government will evaluate the prime offeror. A prime offeror is defined as the prime offeror that provides a signed Joint Venture agreement or an approved DoD Army Protégé agreement within their proposal. In the case of an assigned Joint Venture, the Government will consider the relevant experience and past performance history of the stated primary joint venture partner (if a primary joint venture partner is assigned) and will evaluate the individual venture partners of the proposed joint venture that are expected to perform a meaningful role (10 percent or more of the proposed effort) in evaluating the past performance. This volume shall not exceed 10 pages plus five (5) pages for each major Subcontractor and Joint Venture Partner(s) excluding Past Performance Questionnaire Forms. Offerors shall submit the first page of Government and/or commercial contracts for the prime offeror and each major Subcontractor in performance or awarded during the past three (3) years, but no more than five (5) contracts, from the issue date of this RFP, that is the same as or similar to, the scope, magnitude, and complexity of the work described by this solicitation. Relevant efforts are defined as services/efforts that are the same as or similar to providing the duty descriptions detailed for each labor category. Relevancy will be further evaluated based on services/efforts that occurred at a Government laboratory, an Army facility, or any location. Data concerning the offeror shall be provided first, followed by each proposed major Subcontractor, in alphabetical order. The offeror shall demonstrate relevant past performance or affirmatively state that it possesses no relevant past performance. The Offeror shall also submit the written consent (in the offerors preferred format) of its major Subcontractors to allow the disclosure of its Subcontractor’s past performance information to the Offeror. In addition, letters of commitment (in the offerors preferred format) shall be included for all major Subcontractors for their past performance to be considered (the first page of each referenced Government and/or commercial contracts, letters of commitment and written consent do not count against the allotted page count for this section).

(1) Section 1 – Contract Descriptions. This section shall include the following information in the following format:

(a) Contractor/Subcontractor place of performance, CAGE Code and DUNS Number. 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 Representative (COR) and current email 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 number.

(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 Fixed-Price (FP), Cost Reimbursement (CR), Time & Materials (T&M), etc.). In the case of Indefinite Delivery contracts, indicate specific type (Requirements, Definite Quantity, and Indefinite Quantity) and secondary contract type (FP, CR, T&M, etc.).

(g) Awarded price/cost.

(h) Final or projected final price/cost.

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

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

(2) Section 2 – Performance. Offerors shall provide a specific narrative explanation of each contract listed in Section 1, “Contract Description”, describing the objectives achieved and detailing how the effort is relevant to the requirement of this solicitation.

(a) For any contracts that did not/do not meet original schedule or technical performance requirements, provide a brief explanation of the reason(s) for the shortcomings and any corrective action(s) taken to avoid recurrence. The offerors shall list each time the delivery schedule was revised and provide an explanation of why the revision was necessary. All Requests for Deviation and Requests for Waiver shall be addressed with respect to causes and corrective actions. The offerors shall also provide a copy of any Cure Notices or Show Cause Letters as well as any Corrective Action Requests received on each contract listed and a description of any corrective action implemented by the offeror or proposed subcontractor. The offerors shall indicate if any of the contracts listed were terminated and the type and reasons for the termination.

(b) For all contracts, the offeror shall provide data on all manufacturing warranty returns. Data shall delineate total number of warranty returns, number of Could Not Duplicate (CND), number of failures attributable to Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) component failures, and number and nature of failures attributable to the offeror’s delivered product.

(3) Section 3 – Subcontracts and Joint Venture Partners. Offerors shall provide an outline of how the effort required by the RFP will be assigned for performance within the offeror’s corporate entity and among the proposed subcontractors and Joint Venture Partners. The information provided for the prime offeror and each proposed major subcontractor and Joint Venture Partners must include the entire company name, company address, CAGE Code, DUNS Number and type of work to be performed by citing the applicable Government PWS/TO PWS subparagraph number. This includes all subcontractors and Joint Venture Partners who will be providing support services valued at 10% or more of the contract value, or who’s to perform more than 10% of the total proposed cost/price. This section will further include written consent of major subcontractors and Joint Venture Partners to allow the disclosure of their subcontractor’s past performance information to the Offeror. In addition, letters of commitment shall be included for all major subcontractors and Joint Venture Partners.

(4) Section 4 – New Corporate Entities. New corporate entities may submit data on prior contracts involving its officers and employees. However, in addition to the other requirements in this section, the offeror shall discuss in detail the role performed by such persons in the prior contracts cited. Information should be included in the files described in the sections above. Letters of Commitment shall be included in the proposal for these employees in order to be considered.

(5) Past Performance Questionnaire. For all contracts identified in Section 1, Contract Descriptions, a Past Performance Questionnaire must be completed and submitted. The offeror shall complete Part I of the Past Performance Questionnaire and e-mail the questionnaire to both the Government contracting activity and technical representative responsible for the past/current contract. The POCs shall be instructed to electronically complete Part II of the questionnaire and e-mail the entire questionnaire to Rebecca Patterson, rebecca.b.patterson.civ@mail.mil (alternate POC: Bryan Hoffman, bryan.p.hoffman2.civ@mail.mil). The offeror shall e-mail to the Contracting Officer a list of all the POC’s who were sent a questionnaire. The Government must receive this list no later than 07 February 2017. The POC List shall be submitted in Word for Windows Table Format to include the following fields:

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-Mail to POC (month/day).

(6) Submissions. Offerors are discouraged from providing points of contact with another contractors’ facility, i.e., in case an offeror (or one of his/her team members) is in a subcontract with another contractor who has submitted a proposal on the same requirement. Offerors shall provide and submit the prime contract number and all mailto:rebecca.b.patterson.civ@mail.mil mailto:bryan.p.hoffman2.civ@mail.mil

Governmental agency points of contact (POC) in lieu of subcontract numbers or prime contract POCs in situations as described above.

(7) Small Business Participation Past Performance. All Offerors shall submit information substantiating the Offerors’ past performance in complying with FAR 52.219-8, “Utilization of Small Business”, maximizing opportunities for U.S. small business subcontractors. Offerors shall also provide a statement indicating whether any negative information has been reported in the past six years concerning the Offerors’ past compliance with FAR 52.219-8. If any such negative information has been reported, the Offeror may submit explanations or comments responding to such negative information. Offerors with no prior contracts containing FAR 52.219-8 shall certify the same. The Small Business Participation Past Performance is excluded from the total page count of this section.

(iii) VOLUME III – COST

This volume shall consist of all information, required to support proposed costs and prices as defined in the cost proposal portion. A full cost proposal is NOT required in response to the Basic PWS. A labor rate table, organized by year, shall be submitted to include all potential labor categories and pay bands for the Basic PWS, to include the indirect rates and proposed fee. The Contractor shall reference the attached Appendix A - Anticipated Labor Categories document for anticipated, required labor categories for performance of this proposed contract. A full cost proposal IS required in response to the Sample TO PWS.

Certified cost and pricing data are not currently required; however, the Government reserves the right to request such data prior to task order award, if applicable. The information submitted in this volume shall comply with FAR 15.408, Table 15-2, and the requirements set forth below. There are no page limitations for this volume. The Offerors shall ensure their cost documentation addresses the following (at a minimum):

I. In accordance with FAR 16.301-3(a)(3), the Contracting Officer shall determine that a contractor’s accounting system is adequate. To assist in this adequacy determination, the Offeror shall provide evidence that its accounting system is adequate for determining costs under cost reimbursement contracts, within their Volume III – Cost, along with the offeror’s current Accounting Policies and Practice. The requirements set forth in this subsection of the FAR must be met before a Cost type contract can be awarded. If the accounting system has not been audited by the local Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) Branch Office, then the Contracting officer will request a review of the system before an award will be executed.

II. In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) 15.403-1(b), data other than certified cost or pricing data is required to support cost realism. Each Offeror's and subcontractor’s cost proposal shall be broken out by cost element as specified in FAR 15.408, Table 15-2 Section I, General Instructions, Part A. Offeror and its subcontractor(s) shall provide information necessary to help the Government understand why the proposed costs are realistic and reasonable in its cost narrative. For the Sample TO PWS and Basic PWS, the cost narrative shall include a discussion of labor rates or a pay band table (unloaded), covering all proposed labor categories and each year of performance. Offerors may suggest changes to the labor categories, based on their analysis and unique approach to achieving the Government’s objectives. The Table shall consider both Department of Labor (DOL) minimums (for covered positions) and more importantly, local labor market conditions identified and described in the offeror's Recruitment and Retention plan. Offerors may provide tables for each designated duty location, if their proposal suggests different labor rates. Tables shall reflect the offeror's best estimate of real labor rates required to fill new positions and retain qualified personnel. Submission of the DOL rates, without evidence of local area adjustments and an explanation of adjustments may be evaluated as reasonable, however the cost realism evaluation may be negatively impacted if no evidence of local area labor markets is provided. Proposed labor rates shall demonstrate a full understanding of the cost of labor for each description required to hire and retain a highly qualified workforce, including consideration of seniority/longevity and superior performance. Offerors are encouraged to provide explanation of how labor rates were established and how the suggested labor rates support the Basic PWS and Recruitment & Retention plans. Each Offeror's cost proposal shall contain sufficient quantitative and narrative documentation necessary to adequately support and explain that the costs proposed are realistic and reasonable, to include subcontractor proposed costs.

III. In accordance with FAR Part 15.404-2, the Contracting Officer may solicit field pricing support from the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) and/or DCAA to evaluate the realism and cost reasonableness of the proposal. Any proprietary information or reports obtained from DCAA and/or DCMA will be appropriately identified and protected within the Government.

The cost file of the proposal shall be submitted via Excel spreadsheet(s) in the offerors preferred format. There is NO requirement to submit a printed copy of the Cost file of the proposal.

Basis of estimate write-ups in the cost file shall follow this structure.

a. Describe the base data used to estimate the labor hours or cost of a service.

b. Describe why the offeror chose to use this base data for the proposal.

c. Describe the adjustments, if any, to the base data and why the adjustments were appropriate.

Major Cost Element Information:

The Contractor shall submit cost information for the Sample TO as described below:

(a) Direct Labor Cost

(i) Direct Labor Categories: The Offeror shall propose its direct labor categories and shall provide the basis for the proposed labor categories and skill mix, and discuss the assumptions and rationale for those proposed labor categories/skill mix. In addition, the Offeror shall provide a “crosswalk” between the proposed labor categories and those labor codes matching its accounting/estimating system. At the Source Selection Authority’s discretion, award may be made based on a proposal that exceeds acceptable ratings in Technical and/or Past Performance and is + 5% higher in price. The Technical Factor is of paramount importance and is slightly more important than the Past Performance Factor.

The Past Performance Factor is slightly more important than the Cost factor. However, as the difference between ratings diminish the relative importance of the cost increases.

(ii) Direct Labor Hours: The Offeror shall provide the basis of the proposed labor hours with supporting rationale, including calculations, documentation, the estimating method used, and the assumptions for the proposed estimates. In addition, the Offeror shall provide and discuss the planned employee hours worked per day, week, and year, as well as proposed overtime for the Sample TO. The Offeror shall discuss how leave (sick leave, vacation, etc.) impacts the proposed direct labor hours (and staffing).

(iii) Direct Labor Rates: The Offeror shall provide and discuss the basis for the proposed direct labor rates, for both Direct the prime and subcontractors, such as whether the rates are current/actual (with the effective date), Forward Pricing Rate Agreement (FPRA) or Submission (FPRS), Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) or commercial consulting firm wage/salary survey (e.g., Watson Wyatt, etc.), or Offeror estimate. Documentation for the proposed direct labor rates may be recent actual direct labor rates supported by payroll records, and/or paystubs, Letters of Intent (LOIs), or salary survey data. If providing LOIs, Offeror and/or its subcontractor(s) shall include the direct hourly labor rate for the proposed employee, identify the position, submit the LOI on Offeror’s or subcontractor’s letterhead with both the prospective employee’s and the employer signatures, and state that the LOI is for this solicitation. If providing a salary survey, Offerors shall, at a minimum, include for each applicable labor category the salary survey information in support of the proposed rates. The salary survey information at a minimum shall have: the source of data used to develop the salary ranges, the job title and description being surveyed, the geographic location the survey data is valid for, and a range of salary amounts with reference to applicability of amounts. Recent (within the last twelve (12) months) DCAA audits may serve as support documentation for direct labor rates. A copy of the audit must be included in the proposal. If a copy is not available to the Offeror, the Offeror may provide the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) and/or Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) POCs (including office names, office addresses, name of cognizant Administrative Contracting Officer (ACO) and DCAA supervisory auditor/auditor, and their phone numbers) for the Government to contact.

(iv) Overtime Premium: No overtime is to be proposed for the base effort.

(b) Indirect Costs/Overhead Rates (Fringe Benefits/Allowances, Material Handling, Manufacturing, Engineering, General and Administrative Expenses (G&A), and Facilities Capital Cost of Money

(FCCOM).

(i) Offeror and its subcontractor(s) shall provide documentation to include at least one of the following: 1) a copy of the most recent Forward Pricing Rate Agreement (FPRA), 2) Forward Pricing Rate Recommendation (FPRR), 3) a Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) or Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) report or memorandum containing the most recent finalized DCAA/DCMA audit or review, or 4) Forward Pricing Rate Proposal (FPRP) or other statement of current rates to include documentation to validate the proposed indirect expense rates. The Offeror shall provide the basis of the proposed indirect cost and/or rates, such as the following: actual/current with date, Forward Pricing Rate Agreement (FPRA)/Submission (FPRS), budget, or estimate, with supporting documentation.

(ii) Documentation of indirect expense rates for an FPRP or other statement of current rates shall include the proposed expense pool (by expense account) and allocation base detail, along with the last three years' certified incurred cost submissions. If certified incurred cost proposals have not been submitted to DCAA in the past, then the last three years’ actual expense pools (by expense account) and allocation bases shall be submitted. The rates reflected in the FPRA, FPRR, FPRP, DCAA/DCMA audit or review or other statement of current rates should directly match the proposed rates as detailed in the proposal.

(iii) If the award of this contract will have a significant impact on the Offeror’s business volume, the effects of those changes on the expense pools and bases shall be identified and disclosed.

(iv) Direct/Indirect Charged Costs: The Offeror is reminded that each type of cost shall be allocated only once and on only one basis in order to preclude the “double counting” of costs. Double counting occurs when cost items are allocated directly without eliminating similar items from indirect cost pools. The accounting treatment of all costs of a similar type and nature, in like circumstances, shall be the same.

The Offeror shall follow the accounting practices/procedures described in its Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) Disclosure Statement and/or established accounting/estimating system.

(c) Subcontracts/Inter-organizational Transfers/Consultants.

(i) The Offeror shall list all anticipated subcontracted effort or inter-organizational transfers, to include:

subcontractor or consultant name, total price, service provided. The Offeror shall identify all proposed subcontractors and the contract type the Offeror has with each subcontractor in its cost narrative. For the major subcontractors and consultants providing labor services, the Offeror shall provide the prices broken down by major cost element, in the same format as required of the prime contractor, with all documentation supporting the proposed costs/prices. The Offeror shall provide a narrative describing the basis of selection; it should also document its evaluation of the cost reasonableness and realism of the subcontractors’ or consultants’ costs and/or prices. The Offeror’s price/cost evaluation of its subcontracts and consultants (and/or inter-organizational transfers) will assist the government in its evaluation of the cost realism and reasonableness of the prime contractor’s proposal.

(ii) Reference FAR 15.404-3, if the Offeror is unable to obtain the required documentation from its subcontractors in order to conduct a cost or price analysis as required, the subcontractor may provide the information directly to the Government following the submission instructions of the solicitation.

However, the Offeror and its subcontractor in this scenario shall provide the rationale detailing exactly why the Offeror is unable to conduct the required price or cost analysis as required by 15.404-3 in their cost narrative. For example, if a price/cost analysis is required for a subcontractor and that analysis requires a breakout of the individual cost elements to a prime, and a subcontractor is unwilling to provide their proprietary data to the prime, the prime may then do a total price analysis per 15.404-1(b) and the subcontractor may submit their proprietary cost breakout directly to the Government. If the subcontractor submits their proprietary data directly to the Government, the prime Offeror shall also provide a separate document titled “Summary of Subcontractor(s) Proprietary Cost Breakout” following the submission instructions of the solicitation. The prime Offeror shall ensure this separate document lists the name of each subcontractor, each subcontractor POC who will be submitting the proprietary cost breakout document(s), the date of submission by each subcontractor, and the title(s) of the proprietary cost breakout document(s) to be provided by each subcontractor. The subcontractor shall submit all documents electronically via the ARL Safe website. Additionally, if a subcontractor submits directly to the Government, the subcontractor’s cost narrative and Excel files shall contain all the required documentation applicable to the cost volume for this procurement. The subcontractor shall identify in its cost narrative who the prime Offeror is.

(iii) The subcontractor/consultant names, addresses, phone numbers, and POCs shall be provided; the cognizant DCMA and DCAA offices, along with their addresses, phone numbers, and POCs, shall also be provided, as applicable.

(iv) The same level of cost detail, as required for the subcontracts/consultants, shall be provided for inter-organizational transfers.

(d) Other Direct Costs (ODCs).

(i) Materials/Supplies/Equipment. It is anticipated that miscellaneous supplies, tools, and/or equipment may be required. For proposal purposes, the Government's best estimate of material costs anticipated in performance of the Sample TO is $10,000.00.

(ii) Travel. It is anticipated that miscellaneous travel may be required. For proposal purposes, the Government's best estimate of travel costs anticipated in performance of the Sample TO is $5,000.00.

(iii) Misc ODCs. The Offeror shall list all other ODCs to include with unit and total costs, and the basis of the proposed costs, for any other associated cost (i.e. Danger Pay, Hazard Pay, DBA Insurance).

(iv) Fee on ODCs. The Offeror shall not charge any fee on ODCs.

(e) Fee/Profit.

The Offeror shall indicate the proposed fee/profit.

(f) Economics/Escalation.

For the Direct Labor Rates, materials and equipment/supplies, ODCs, and any other costs, the Offeror shall provide the bases for any proposed/projected price changes and the assumptions used: forecast source (such as DRI/WEFA, or Economy.com), index used (index number and title), calculations (index values used: base and projected values), and dates used (month and year for applicable index numbers). The Offeror shall provide copies of the escalation forecasts as support documentation in the proposal.

(iv) VOLUME IV – SOLICITATIONS, OFFER AND AWARD DOCUMENTS AND CERTIFICATIONS /

REPRESENTATIONS

Certifications and Representations – Each offeror shall complete (fill-in and signatures) the solicitation sections indicated below using the file (without modification to the file) provided with the solicitation. An authorized official of the firm shall sign the SF 33 and all certifications requiring original signature. An Acrobat PDF file shall be created to capture the signatures for submission. This requirement is in addition to the Reps and Certs required pursuant to FAR 52.204-2.

Section A – Standard Form 33 (SF 33), Solicitation, Offer and Award

E. DISCUSSIONS

1. GENERAL INFORMATION. The Government intends to evaluate proposals and make award(s) without discussions. In accordance with FAR 15.306(d), discussion sessions with each offeror may be held. After completion of discussions with each offeror in the competitive range (if conducted) and in accordance with FAR 15.307(b), all offerors in the competitive range will be allowed a specified period to submit Final Proposal Revisions.

2. DISCUSSION SCHEDULING. If discussions are conducted, the Contracting Officer will schedule the discussion sessions, and each offeror will be notified of the time and place at least three (3) business days prior to their discussion session. Appropriate security clearances should be provided in sufficient time to process the requests. The Contracting Officer will provide additional instructions with the notification. The discussion sessions will take place at the Government’s facility.