Attachment 1 QA Amendment 0002.pdf

Q&A MDC 3010 Medium Class Hopper Dredge (MCHD)

W912BU21R0001

Amendment 0002

1. Request for Information on non-proprietary and proprietary portions.

Non-Proprietary Background:

1.Solicitation H04 Contractor Submittal Requirements include the requirement that “Prior to submission of plans, calculations and designs to MDC or any regulatory agency as part of this Contract, the Contractor must have them reviewed and stamped by a registered Professional Engineer (PE) licensed by one of the 50 states of the United States or the District of Columbia.”

Proprietary Background:

1.Our proposed industry team includes a non-US parent vessel designer that would prepare drawings, calculations, and reports for the USACE MCHD vessel.

2.The non-US parent vessel designer brings parent design continuity and trailing-suction hopper dredge design experience to the MCHD program. Our team has successfully used this model on previous government programs.

Question:

Would the USACE consider other international engineering certifications (e.g. Chartered Engineer or CEng in England) as equivalent to a registered Professional Engineer for the purposes of the H04 Contractor Submittal Requirements?

Answer: The Government will not accept other international engineering certifications equivalent to a registered Professional Engineer for the purposes of the H04 Contractor Submittal Requirements.

2. Will the Government provide the Past Performance Questionnaire (PPQ) referenced in Section L?

Answer: In Amendment 0002, the Government has provided this as an attachment on the beta.SAM webpage.

3. Will the Government provide the Appendix B referenced in Section M?

Answer: In Amendment 0002, this paragraph has been deleted and Section M has been amended to reflect the change.

4. Is a proposal from an Offeror that offers less than a 100% bond deemed to be a multiple offer or multiple proposal that will be evaluated, or would such a proposal be deemed noncompliant on the basis that it does not include a 100% bond as required?

Answer: All offers are required to be 100% bond at time of submission in accordance with FAR Clause 52.228-1 Bid Guarantee. All offerors would be considered nonresponsive if they do not meet this requirement outlined in the solicitation. See page

287 of the initial Solicitation for submission requirements for the Bid Bond. In accordance with FAR Clause 52.228-16 Performance and Payment Bonds – Other than Construction, the successful offer is required to submit Performance and Payment Bonds within 10 days after award of the contract.

5. Clause DFARS 252.204-7021, CONTRACTOR COMPLIANCE WITH THE

CYBERSECURITY MATURITY MODEL CERTIFICATION LEVEL REQUIREMENT

(NOV 2020) Will the government provide the CMMC level required by this contract?

Answer: The Contractor shall adhere to the CMMC Level 1 requirements, processes, and practices as specified on the provided website in DFARS 252.204-7021. The Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) will periodically check to ensure the federal contract information for this project is safeguarded per these procedures.

6. Request for extension:

a) Information provided by USACE was released near the holidays, and there is not enough time to develop the information required of the RFP. Request for a one-month extension.

b) A vessel of this size and complexity, based on our experience and the extend of foreign equipment, requires 10 to 12 weeks to complete the costing exercise when a concept design is available, and that does not account for the impact the COVID-19 pandemic will have on vendor and supplier response time. Based on our resent experience, the pandemic has definitely slowed vendor and supplier response time a couple of weeks. We ask that USACE increase the response duration to 15 weeks, with a proposal due date of 2 April 2021?

c) the Government extend the due date for this proposal to June 18, 2021, in order to provide potential bidders with adequate time to ⋅ analyze the complete technical specification of December 18, correctly assess the amount of work required to customize vessel designs to meet the requirements released on Dec 18 2020, obtain certified and accurate pricing, and to propose a firm fixed price that represents the bidder's best offer based on those requirements?

d) Requesting consideration for extending the due date by no less than 3 weeks and preferably extending by 5 weeks.

Answer: Proposals has been extended until 2 April 2021 0430 PM EST. The cutoff date for the receipt of RFIs will be 14 days prior to the closing of the Request for Proposal.

Upon receipt of additional RFIs the Government will consider any further extensions.

7. It is our opinion that the design/build procurement process is not appropriate for a vessel of this size and complexity. Reasons are as follows:

• The design/build process outlined by the subject RFP is very expensive for prospective builders to offer a proposal. We know of multiple builders that may not offer proposals because of the expense and higher risk caused by assignment of their resources to develop this proposal, when compared to other RFPs they are considering.

• USACE risk of not receiving the intended dredge design is higher when only providing basic performance information in the RFP.

• Normally this level of government RFP information is provided for a design-only project, and the design contract can be awarded to two or three shipyards working in conjunction with their chosen naval architects. This effectively is a paid design contest, with the government agency then choosing between multiple designs when they are completed. The winning design is then provided to builders as part of a detailed RFP, soliciting construction proposals. NOAA is currently applying this RFP process to their new AGOR research vessels (N00024-18-R-2201 Solicitation and Award).

• Finally, if USACE has a specific existing design in mind and has developed their RFP process and schedule around that design, we feel that would be an unfair way to abbreviate the process and prevent any opportunity for qualified American naval architects to develop a design to meet the requirements. For decades we have been frustrated by our military agencies building foreign “existing design” vessels, by applying similar RFP tactics, when competent American naval architects are available and willing to offer their services.

Answer: The Specifications and requirements contained in this solicitation were developed to support the projected dredging mission of the medium class hopper dredge being procured. The Government does not have a specific design envisioned for this procurement. Please refer to Section M for the Government’s selection criteria.

8. Can you clarify the type of acquisition that the Medium Class Hopper Dredge is intended to be? Did the Government determine that less than two capable shipyards qualified as small businesses? The Contract Opportunity per beta.sam.gov indicates “Full and Open” and “unrestricted procurement”. The Final Solicitation download indicates a “Small Business Set Aside”.

Answer: The Small Business Set Aside is an administrative error that was corrected in Amendment One. Based on market research and sources sought responses, the Government determined to solicit this procurement as Unrestricted.

9. Given the delay in providing the Past Performance Questionnaire (PPQ) to Offerors, will the Government identify the mechanism for submitting client PPQs post-proposal submission?

Answer: Past Performance Questionnaire (PPQ) is provided with Amendment 0002.

Section L part (iii) VOLUME 2 –Past Performance explains the submission process for PPQs.

10. The solicitation information posted on beta.sam includes a SF1449. The solicitation instructions on page 294 reference SF 33. Can the government please clarify which document to use?

Answer: Solicitation form is SF1449. Section L has been corrected in Amendment 0002.

11. How can I view the Interested Vendor List (IVL)?

Answer: Navigate to a published opportunity page using a direct link, search, or your workspace. If the contracting officer for the respective opportunity has enabled the Interested Vendors List (IVL), then the table of contents will include a section for the IVL. Selecting the IVL section will navigate to the IVL. You can only view this list online; currently, a download feature is not available. The IVL will not appear if the contracting officer selected to did not enable it.

Note: You will only see the IVL if you are logged in to the account associated with an entity. USACE Philadelphia district have allowed for IVL. But if you are unable to access the IVL, we recommend that subcontractors contact shipyards in the area and/or shipyards that you have work with previously.