A.03.17 Questions and Answers for SBMATOC final.docx

Questions and Answers for SBMATOC:

1. Section 00 20 00, part 4, paragraph (e) identifies the potential need for Professionally Certified individuals like Professional Engineers, Architects, and Industrial Hygienists, it doesn’t appear that any of the labor positions that are represented in the Bid Schedule are for any certified industry professionals. Please confirm that any costs associated with the potential need for any professional services including all design services are to be included as additional costs not included in the Bid Schedule within each competed task order proposal and therefore not evaluated at this time?

Tasks Orders for any additional professional services will be identified in Request for Proposals for those Task Orders requiring them. Thus, this will not be evaluated at this time.

The costs for the Superintendent, SSHO, and QC Manager should be included in this Price Breakout Schedule.

Refer to Page 156 of PDF.

1.5.2 Superintendent Qualifications. The Project Superintendent must have a minimum of 5 years of experience in construction with at least 1 of those years as a superintendent on projects similar in size and complexity. The individual must be familiar with the requirements of EM 385-1-1 and have experience in the areas of hazard identification and safety compliance. The individual must be capable of interpreting a critical path schedule and construction drawings. The qualification requirements for the alternate superintendent are the same as for the project superintendent. The KO may request proof of the superintendent's qualifications at any point in the project if the performance of the superintendent is in question.

2. Please confirm that all costs required to execute any individual task order that are not contained within the line items in the Bid Schedule are to be to be included as additional costs not included in the Bid Schedule within each competed task order proposal and therefore not evaluated at this time.

See answer to the question 1.

3. Please confirm that all costs associated with securing all required Permits, licenses, security requirements…etc. are to be priced and negotiated within the Bid Item #63 – Miscellaneous Equipment, Materials, and Fees for each task order issued on the MATOC.

All costs associated with securing all required permits, licenses, security requirements, etc. are to be priced within individual Task Orders separated from Price Breakout Schedule Item #63.

Refer to Page 151:

1.10 MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT, MATERIALS AND FEES

1.10.1 General. For this contract, the term "materials" is used to describe equipment, materials, fees, or a combination of equipment, materials, and/or fees not specifically listed as a price breakout schedule line item in the contract. The Government's purpose in including materials in a Request-for-Proposal (RFP) for a proposed task order written against this contract is to obtain the best value for the Government, reduce the administrative burden of coordinating the delivery of Government-furnished property to the Contractor, and to allow the Contractor the utmost flexibility in planning work by having control of when the materials are delivered to the work site. The Government cannot anticipate every piece of equipment, each material, or fee that will be required to complete every mission assigned to it. This provides a method for the Government to add necessary capability to the contract.

4. The Price Breakdown Schedule contained within Section 00 10 00 is requiring the contractor to price a Milage Cost for most pieces of equipment. There are many pieces of equipment where it doesn’t make sense to price milage on, for example, Bid Item 0008 Pavement Breaker 45 LB Handheld, or 0021 Cranes, Mechanical, Lattice Boom Crawler 160 Ton, and many others. Would the Government consider removing the requirement for pricing milage on each piece of equipment? If not, please provide direction on how the contractor should price milage on equipment that is not designed to be physically driven over the road long distances.

An average mileage per gallon will be needed for equipment mobilization/demobilization to the project. There is not a need to estimate a “milage cost” for when equipment is being utilized onsite only mobilization and demobilization.

Refer to Page of PDF: Page 156

1.8 MILEAGE. Mileage will be added to each Task Order in accordance with the applicable price breakout items for mileage. Mileage will be computed from the Huntington District USACE, 502 Eighth Street, Huntington, West Virginia 25701. Contractor shall clearly identify mileage (to/from/roundtrip) as a separate item under mobilization/demobilization costs in the proposal.

5. Bid Item 0003 Spreader Box is undefined. Please provide equipment specifications for this piece of equipment.

This is an attachment that is 7’ wide gravity fed spreader that attaches to the rear of a dump truck.

6. The RFP document doesn’t appear to detail out the process that will be followed to bid on individual task orders. Would the Government please provide the procedure for responding to task orders. If possible, please provide an example of task order request similar to the type that would be issued under this MATOC.

Section 00 73 00 00 Supplementary Conditions

2. Task Orders. All work under this contract will be ordered by issuance of individual task orders. Task orders shall be issued under the following procedures:

a. The Government shall furnish the Contractor a Statement of Work (SOW) for each task order and shall request a proposal from the Contractor based on the items listed in the price breakout schedule. The Government may also include a list of equipment, materials, or fees not specifically identified on the contract price breakout schedule in the Request-for-Proposal. When the Contractor supplies quotes for supplies or materials, the Government may accept all, part or none of the supplies or materials. See section entitled "Miscellaneous Equipment, Materials, and Fees" below for further details. These miscellaneous items will be paid for under the Price Breakout Item entitled "Miscellaneous Equipment, Materials, and Fees."

b. The Contractor's proposal shall be reviewed and, if necessary, the total price and/or pricing for specific items of the task order shall be negotiated.

c. A task order shall be issued in the agreed upon amount. The task order shall include a description of the work to be performed, a list of materials and supplies to be provided by the Contractor and/or the Government, the end results expected by the Contracting Officer (KO) and the required period of performance for completion of the work.

d. No work is to start under the issued task order prior to issuance of a written Notice to Proceed (NTP) by the KO. All requirements specified in the award letter accompanying the task order must be provided by the Contractor for acceptance by the KO. These requirements include but are not limited to: Clause FAR 28.102 Performance and payment bonds and alternative payment protections for construction contracts, Site-specific Accident Prevention Plans, and Activity Hazard Analysis for each definable feature of sub-feature of work. Sitespecific supplement to the Quality Control Plan, and Site-specific Environmental Protection Plan. Upon acceptance of performance and payment bonds and certificate of insurance. The KO will issue NTP. No physical construction shall take place until all remaining requirements of the award letter have been accepted and a preconstruction conference has been conducted.

e. This contract contains a provision for emergency projects that may be necessary due to the occurrence of natural disasters or other destructive phenomena. Should this emergency situation or situations develop; the Contractor will be required to start work within 24-hours of receipt of a written directive. This directive will provide as much information as possible regarding the extent of the Contractor's expected involvement. The Government will issue a task order to cover this emergency situation as soon as possible.

f. The quantities listed in the price breakout schedule are approximate and are provided as information only to assist in the preparation of proposals. The quantities are not guaranteed and the actual quantities provided under this contract shall not be justification for modification to the contract for additional payment above the amount negotiated on individual task orders

7. How many contractors are going to be awarded a seat on the MATOC?

Per the pre-Solicitation Synopsis posted, a target of Five (5) Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity Contracts will be awarded for this procurement.

8. The Price Breakdown Schedule contained within Section 00 10 00 is requiring the contractor to price a mobilization/demobilization cost for most pieces of equipment. Considering that this contract covers a large geographic area, the mobilization distances for each task order issued could vary widely based on each contractors’ assumptions. Please provide an assumed distance for mobe/demobe for each piece of equipment to be priced. This will level the playing field and give the Government comparable pricing for evaluation purposes. If those distances are not provided, the government will be evaluating pricing that are effectively different scopes of work depending on each contractor’s individual assumptions. Another option would be to remove the Mobe/Demobe Bid Items and make those prices negotiable per task order.

See answer to the question 4.

9. Please confirm that the contractor is not responsible to provide risk of loss (i.e., Builders Risk) insurance for any government-furnished items.

If any damages are caused by Contractor’s negligence the Contractor is responsible for all costs for repairing the damage.

Refer to Page 135 of PDF:

Part 10. Damage Report. All instances where Government materials, supplies, property, and/or equipment are damaged shall be reported immediately to the Government Representative/Inspector. Where damages are caused by the Contractor's negligence, a written report of the incident (ENG FORM 3394) and extent of such damage shall be submitted to the Government Representative/Inspector within 2 workdays (less weekends and holidays) of occurrence. The Contractor is responsible for all costs for repairing the damage to the satisfaction of the Government or replacing the damaged property. The Government will determine whether the damaged property will be replaced or repaired. If the Government determines that the damaged property should be replaced, the Contractor is responsible for disposal of the damaged property in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.

10. Please confirm that the contractor is not responsible to secure, submit, or maintain any manufacturers’ warranties for government-furnished items.

See answer to question 9.

11. The Price Breakdown Schedule contained within Section 00 10 00 is requiring the contractor to price some supervisory labor positions, including Bid Item 0139 – Superintendent, Bid Item 0140 - Site Safety and Health Officer (SSHO), and Bid Item 0141 - Quality Control Rep (QC), section 00 20 00. However, Part 4-Performance of Work identifies many other supervisory positions that contractors are expected to provide for the MATOC. Shall the contractor price supervisory positions that are not currently contained within the Bid Schedule by spreading those costs across all Bid Items as the contractor determines applicable? Or will additional contract required supervision be priced as additional costs not included in the Bid Schedule within each competed task order proposal and therefore not evaluated at this time? A final option would be to allow contractors to add hourly rates for other positions not listed in the Price Breakdown Schedule.

Quality Control Representative, Superintendent, and Site Safety Health Officer (SSHO) will be included as separate price breakout line items.

Refer to Question 1

Refer to Page 149 of PDF:

1.4.2 Labor. The hourly rate for all labor and operators shall be as specified and is computed based on 8 hours per day, 5 days per week. Price breakout schedule unit prices shall include overhead, profit, transportation, travel, and mileage. Per Diem will not be paid on any work within the boundaries of the Huntington District. Overhead rates shall not include the labor expenses of supervisory personnel, including Foremen, SSHO, Superintendent, or QC representatives. Quality Control Representative, Superintendent, and Site Safety Health Officer (SSHO) will be included as separate price breakout line items.

12. Please confirm that all unit pricing represented within this proposal will be subject to FAR Clause 52.211-18 Variation in Estimated Quantity throughout the duration of the MATOC.

Yes, all unit pricing represented within this proposal will be subject to the 52.211-18 FAR Clause.

13. Our team has a question regarding the “On-Site Contractor Representative” requested under Factor 4, Management and Administration. Can you define this role and describe the requirements for it, please?

An On-Site Contractor Representative is designated by the contractor. This can be the CQC System Manager and/or Superintendent. The role is to represent the contractor while onsite.

14. At the top of Page 90 under Section 2. Proposal Format Requirements that clearly spells out:

g. 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 RFP number in the header and/or footer. A Table of Contents should be created follow the general structure detailed below.

Our question is, pertaining to Pages 3 through 76 (Price Breakout Schedule), can we request that these particular pages not include the our numbering system and identification by the complete company name, date and RFP number. In lieu of this, it would look exactly like the page numbers look in the RFP page 3 through 76. This will help streamline our work and most likely will make it easier for the reviewers since all of the Submitting Companies forms will look identical?

Yes, they can be discounted in their numbering.

These pages can be used how they are 3-76, these pages will NOT need to be renumbered.

15. We request using and submitting previously completed PPQs from recent solicitations as representatives are labored and less responsive to provide yet another duplicate PPQ. Is it acceptable to use previously submitted PPQs?

Yes, this is acceptable, per the solicitation, we require PPQ from their client/customers. See page 91 of Solicitation.

16. Request a due date extension especially due to approaching holiday- extension will support all contractors and will increase competition to the benefit of the Government. Request a due date extension of at least 2-weeks.

We are extending the receipt of proposals until Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 11am.

17. We have a supporting body of experience we'd like to demonstrate, however some of the experience spans greater than six (6) years. Increasing this experience time span may open doors to other contractors bolstering competition to the government's benefit. Please allow submission of relevant projects completed in the past 13 years.

Our requested requirement is six years, relative and knowledge of current construction.

18. SECTION 00 20 00 procurement instructions para. 11 detail steps to project defeminization to include site visits, employee interviews, review of as builts, to develop a work plan. Is this project defeminization intended to be bid competitively among bidders?

No, the work plans are a submittal once awarded.