Questions and Answers 1 0061.docx

Questions and Answers #1

Architect – Engineer Design Services for Renovation of Secure and Classified Tenant Core Spaces for Department of Defense Agencies Worldwide

Question 1: Does the prime contractor need to have security clearances for personnel of all disciplines listed under Item 3.a.? Could this requirement be fulfilled by including some personnel from prime and some from subcontractors? (Item 3.a.)

Answer 1: Yes, the prime contractor needs to have security clearances for personnel of all disciplines listed under Item 3.a. Yes, this requirement could be fulfilled by including some personnel from prime and some from subcontractors.

Question 2: Will the Government differentiate between proposals by prime firms that have their own DoD – accredited security facility clearance and prime firms that utilize the DoD – accredited security facility of their subcontractors? (Item 3.b. and 3.e.)

Answer 2: As per Item 3.b., “the prime contractor’s facility and any subcontractor’s facility that will be receiving, storing, and processing classified material shall have secret facility clearance.” Therefore, the prime contractor’s facility shall have secret facility clearance.

Question 3: Will the Government differentiate between the project experience of the prime firms and the project experience of their subcontractors? (Items 3.c.i. and 3.c.ii)

Answer 3: Yes. As per Item 3.c., preference is given to the prime firm’s experience.

Question 4: Do the prime contractor’s personnel need to have experience with U.S. Embassy upgrades or could this requirement be met by subcontractor personnel? (Item 3.d.)

Answer 4: Yes. As per Item 3.d., preference is given to the prime firm’s experience.

Question 5: How would you rate a proposal that includes project experience not evaluated by CPARS / ACASS? (Item 3.f.)

Answer 5: Please review Item 3.f. in the modified Synopsis. This will direct you to submit Points of Contact.

Question 6: If the prime contractor proposes to primarily use the facility of a subcontractor located in the Washington, D.C. area, will it receive any favorable consideration in case of a tie? (Item 3.h)

Answer 6: As per Item 3.h., in the event of a tie-breaker, the location of the prime firm in the Washington, D.C. area will be given preference.

Question 7: Paragraph 1 states that work may be CONUS and OCONUS. Please verify that CONUS work will be included in this contract, especially with respect to the requirement in Paragraph 3i that the firm be located in the general geographical area of Washington, D.C.

Answer 7: Work may be both CONUS and OCONUS.

Question 8: Paragraph 1 additionally states that two contracts will be awarded with, “…a combined capacity of $7,000,000.” Please clarify whether each contract will have a capacity of $7.0M, or will a total of $7.0M in capacity be potentially awarded under the two contracts combined.

Answer 8: Up to two firms will share capacity of $7.0M.

Question 9: Paragraph 3g requires inclusion of all ACASS performance evaluations for referenced projects. Are these ACASS evaluations to be included within the SF-330 and counted against the 75-page limit, or can they be included in a separate appendix? Also, if projects are not referenced in Section F of the SF330, but are referenced in Section H of the SF330, is the ACASS performance evaluation required to be submitted?

Answer 9: The ACASS performance evaluations associated with Section F projects should be included in the SF-330, but they will not be counted against the 75-page limit. If any additional projects and associated ACASS performance evaluations are submitted as part of the Additional Information, they will be included as part of the 75-page limit.

Question 10: The last paragraph of Section 3h gives information regarding short-listing and notification of firms, but gives no information regarding final selection of firms. Is the selection process to be a multi-stage process, and if so, may we be provided with information regarding the second stage of the selection process?

Answer 10: The Selection Process will be in accordance with FAR Subpart 36.6 and supplements and Engineering Pamphlet 715-1-7 “Architect-Engineer Contracting in USACE”.

Question 11: Paragraph 4 provides the requirements for the submittal documents. Will tabs be counted against the overall page limit of 75 pages?

Answer 11: Tabs will not be counted against the overall page limit of 75 pages.

Question 12: Paragraph 3.c.iii asks for "experience with multi-discipline task order type contracts that require the ability to respond quickly to task orders, requests for offers, and completion of projects on an accelerated schedule. Special emphasis should be provided for previous experience with similar Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) A-E Contract Task Orders." In order to most completely respond to this requirement, we would like to utilize overall IDIQ contracts for several of our project descriptions in Section F of the SF330. Is this acceptable?

Answer 12: Per 3.c, the firm is to identify projects; generally, the task orders, not the overall ID/IQ contracts, are project-specific. Therefore, utilizing overall ID/IQ contracts for project descriptions is not acceptable.

Question 13: We have been told by our contracting officers that our POC’s and project locations are classified or confidential to your offices. By identifying project locations as “in theater” or the POC as “confidential”, will our experience be acceptable or will we be considered non-responsive?

Answer 13: All information submitted with the SF 330 may be marked as “For Official Use Only”. The synopsis is not asking for classified information, such as location, but the evaluators will need to know the nature of work performed and be able to obtain confirmation from a Government party that the work was completed.