W9133L-21-R-6000 - Fire Suppression - RFI Responses 1 - 31 (16 June 2021).pdf

RFI # RFI Text Posted KO Response Amend No./

Clarification (C)

Change Reference Paragraph

1 Will NGB accept SF 330 submissions developed using the current SF 330 form edition in Microsoft Word and saved to a final Adobe PDF, instead of starting with the Adobe PDF template provided on the GSA webpage? This provides the same information, but allows space to satisfactorily respond to the solicitation requirements. Using a Microsoft Word template allows for:

1. Multi-page Section E resumes (in the GSA Adobe form, resumes are one page and only allow for 1-2 sentences on each project under Block 19. Projects described under Block 19 typically require 3-4 sentences each to adequately explain scope of work detail.)

2. Multi-page Section F project sheets (in the GSA Adobe form, Block 25 takes up 1/3 of the page and often not all lines are utilized – leaving less space for the project scope of work to be described in detail.)

3. Complete contract numbers to be provided in Section F Block 21 (in the GSA Adobe form, the character limit is capped. This does not allow for entering of complete contract/task order numbers which can be up to 26 characters.)

4. Multi-page Section H (in GSA Adobe form, there is only one page provided to respond to all Section H requirements noted in the solicitation.)

5. Addition of sequential page numbers, as required by solicitation (in the GSA form, there are page numbers already listed – adding a second page number to meet solicitation requirements could confuse reviewers.)

Example templates following the GSA format and meeting the most current requirements have been attached for reference. Complete SF 330 submissions our firm has supplied to Department of Defense clients can be submitted as examples of end products, if desired.

Corrected Response - 16 June 2021: The use of the SF330 from the GSA website is provided for information purposes, but is not mandatory. As long as all of the information required by the most current SF330 version is included in the submittal, firms can utilize a customized form.

C

2 The solicitation states, “SF 330, in Adobe format and the most current edition (https://www.gsa.gov/forms-library/architect-engineer-qualifications), must be used..” Does this mean firms may only use the fillable form to be compliant with the solicitation? Or, may we use a different software to produce the SF 330 in an Adobe PDF?

Corrected Response - 16 June 2021: The use of the SF330 from the GSA website is provided for information purposes, but is not mandatory. As long as all of the information required by the most current SF330 version is included in the submittal, firms can utilize a customized form.

C

3 Based on the criteria this firm does not feel that we can adequately show our extensive experience with just 5 projects. Would the NGB consider extending the maximum number of projects to show in Section F to 10 projects?

The maximum number of projects will remain at 5. C

4 Will OCONUS projects that follow the US design standards score the same as projects that are within the 54 US states and territories?

Projects, whether CONUS or OCONUS, submitted are evaluated based on meeting the synopsis criteria. For example, not just US design standards but Government, DOD, and other standards mentioned throughout the synopsis.

C

5 This firm would like to conform that we can use the same person for two roles. If so, will that person be scored lower that one person per role?

It is highly encouraged to submit one person per role but not a requirement. However, key personnel identified for a specific role shall meet the minimum requirements of the selected role.

C

6 Can we provide additional resumes in addition to the 9 required resumes disciplines? The Government will evaluate proposals based on the minimum criteria established in the solicitation. All Key Personnel listed in the synopsis will be evaluated by the Government. Please refer to Enforceability of Proposal paragraph in the synopsis for additional information regarding key personnel.

C

7 Is it the intention of the NGB for offers to only show 9 resumes in Section E? Yes, the Key personnel listed in this synopsis is who will be evaluated. C

8 There is some confusion on the exact forms that you would like us to use in this submission. Is it the intention of the NGB for us to use fill in the exact forms from the GSA in their native .pdf format or can we revise the forms (keeping everything the same in our branding). See attached for example. The submission will still be submitted as one document in .pdf format.

Responses for questions 1 and 2 have been corrected (16 June 2021). The use of the SF330 from the GSA website is provided for information purposes, but is not mandatory. As long as all of the information required by the most current SF330 version is included in the submittal, firms can utilize a customized form.

C

9 Please clarify why this is not either a small-business set aside or at least one of the awards being set aside for small business. There was a sources sought a few years ago related to this and small business capability. As other Government agencies have used either a complete small business or partial small business set aside for fire protection engineering IDIQs, its hard to understand how there wasn’t sufficient response for this IDIQ.

Data received as a result of Market Research for this requirement did not support a small business set aside. C

10 Criteria E (2) – Please clarify what is meant by “list construction contractors with references from within the specified region…” as this list could be excessive.

a.What “region” as this is nationwide?

b.How many contractors?

c.Government projects or any projects related to the solicitation?

d.What information is required to be provided for the contractors? Name, contact information, projects worked on?

Correct, the region as stated is nationwide. The firm to provide information that is listed which best meets the synopsis requirements and relavancy to the scope of solicitation.

C

11 Under additional requirements, the solicitation states “Small Business Firms submittal a proposal under the Small Business category….”. There is no small business category listed. Please confirm whether or not a small business category exists?

This Solicitation does not include a small business set aside category. This language will be deleted from the Synopsis/Solicitation. See Synopsis/Solicitation Amendment 01.

Amendment No. 1 was issued on

6/11/21

Additional Requirements Section

12 Will large businesses who are submitting under the separate AE regional IDIQs for the National Guard be prohibited from submitted a response to this solicitation?

No, but please refer to Criteria C of the synopsis for the firms ability to accomplish multiple task orders. C

13 Questions & Answers - Initial Synopsis Posting Attachment 19 May 2021 Question # 17

The response to question #17 states the requirement to include (1) design build experience under criteria B. The solicitation as published does not indicate this requirement. Can you please confirm that the response to question 17 effectively amends the solicitation?

The response to question 17 does not effectively amend the solicitation. Please refer to Criteria B, Section 6. C

14 We respectfully request the Government to allow Offerors to recreate the GSA’s fillable PDF for SF330 Part I and Part II to allow for the inclusion of images, graphics, color, standard fonts, 11x17 pages, consecutive page numbering and extra pages for resumes and projects. The GSA’s SF330 (PDF with fillable fields) are cumbersome to work with. The evaluation panel will also benefit from reviewing the submittals offered by visually-compelling page layout, fonts, tables, color and graphics.

See answer to question 8. C

FIRE SUPPRESSION

Synopsis RFIs

Solicitation No. W9133L-21-R-6000 (16 June 2021)

15 Like other Offerors, we do not receive CPARS ratings for our recent and relevant National Guard projects. Will projects that do not have supporting CPARS or PPQs be downgraded or rated equally to Section F projects that do?

Please consider that Section F, Block 23 does contain fields for the client’s name and tel.

“Firms may include supporting information in the proposal, such as letters of commendation from clients, past performance on recent similar contracts, information on problems encountered in prior contracts, and actions taken to remedy unsatisfactory performance. Past performance on contracts with Government agencies and private industry regarding quality, cost control, and timeliness of work will be reviewed. Past DOD experience data, available to the Government through Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS), will also be evaluated. Other credible, documented information on past performance should be considered, except for adverse performance information to which the firm has not had an opportunity to respond.”

Answer: The Government will use all information available to evaluate past performance. As stated in Criteria D, "Firms must provide relevant past performance in the accomplishment of similar work. Firms must submit information for relevant contracts and subcontracts including the name, address, and telephone number of references… Firms may include supporting information in the proposal, such as letters of commendation from clients, past performance on recent similar contracts, information on problems encountered in prior contracts, and actions taken to remedy unsatisfactory performance.

Past performance on contracts with Government agencies and private industry regarding quality, cost control, and timeliness of work will be reviewed, etc." The Government is also going to review experience data from CPARS. However, offerors with no CPARS are not going to be evaluated unfavorably as a result. It should be noted that all offerors are responsible to provide suficient information in their proposal (as described in Criteria D) in other for the Government to evaluate this factor. Please see relevancy ratings and performance confidence ratings in the synopsis for additional details.

C

16 Does this requirement pertain the 5 projects provided in Section F (which does not have a field for the client’s address) or are we to provide additional client references in Section H under Criteria D?

“Firms must submit information for relevant contracts and subcontracts including the name, address, and telephone number of references.”

Firms can provide past performance under Criteria D for Section F projects as well as past performance of any additional relevant projects.

C

17 Will projects that do not have Superior Performance Evaluations be downgraded? Would the government prefer that we provide experience from other DOD agencies instead of National Guard portfolio?

“Superior Performance Evaluations on recently completed DoD contracts. Performance with ratings of exceptional will be considered as Superior Performance Evaluations.”

Criteria F is a secondary criteria and is only utilizied in tiebreaker scenerios. As stated, Performance ratings of exceptional will be considered as Superior Performance Evaluations. The Government will review projects that meet the minimum requirements identified in the synopsis.

C

18 Will the Government evaluate additional resumes beyond the 9 candidates in key roles? For example, if we provide six Fire Protection Engineers that meet your requirements, will all resumes be evaluated, or only the task leader’s resume for each discipline?

See answer to question 6. C

19 Criteria C reads, "(4) Demonstrate the ability to meet anticipated contract requirements if the A-E is awarded more than one contract under any of the other regions being procured by the National Guard Bureau for Vertical, Horizontal, and for Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands. In your response, indicate if you intend to issue a proposal under more than one region and identify those regions." Does our firm need to identify proposals we are submitting as a subconsultant in other regions under the AEC NGB Regional AE IDIQ Contracts?

Yes, firms are required to provide information to demonstrate ability to perform multiple contracts. C

20 In response to the RFI posted on 5/26, we would like to clarify the SF330 template usage. Typically, firms will directly download the SF330 from the GSA website and export to word. This does not change the SF330 format but allows for proper formatting, page numbering, headers, and footers to be included. Once complete, the SF330 is then converted back to its original Adobe state and submitted back to the government. Is this direct conversion to word and then back into adobe acceptable?

See answer to question 8. C

21 Criteria A (8) Corrosion Engineer (Registered National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE) Certified Corrosion Specialist, NACE Certified Cathodic Protection Specialist, or registered professional corrosion engineer) with a minimum of five

(5) years’ experience;

The solicitation specifies the need for a corrosion engineer. Can you clarify the role that is anticipated for this team member? Is the focus on corrosion within the fire protection system piping, or corrosion of the contents within the protected facility?

Example of job description of Corrosion Engineer includes "the engineering specialty that applies scientific, tehnical, engineering skills, and knowledge of natural lasws and physical resources to design and implement materials, structures, devices, systems, and procedures to manage corrosio

C

Criteria B “Firms shall only submit projects as evidence of experience if those projects are at a minimum beyond B1/65% design submission for Type A/B experience, and at a minimum 50% complete on construction for Type C experience.”

Can you please define/clarify Type A, B, & C experience referred to in the above criteria?

Referencing to the synopsis minimum for design submission is B1 or 65% design documents submittal. To clarify Type A is conceptual design phase (10%-35% design documents), Type B is design phase (65% - 100% design documents), and Type C is Construction Inspection services (i.e. Title II services).

C

Criteria C (4) Demonstrate the ability to meet anticipated contract requirements if the A-E is awarded more than one contract under any of the other regions being procured by the National Guard Bureau for Vertical, Horizontal, and for Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands. In your response, indicate if you intend to issue a proposal under more than one region and identify those regions.

The solicitation states that the IDIQ is for “across 54 U.S. States and Territories.” Can you clarify the “other regions” referred to in the above criteria?

This solicitation is for Fire Suppression requirements across the 54 states and territories. The National Guard Bureau also anticipates issuing other A&E Regional solicitations in support of Vertical and Horizontal design requirements as well as design solicitations in support of Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico/Virgin Islands. These other solicitations have been or will be posted in SAM.Gov. Criteria C requires to provide information if your firm intends to issue a proposal under more than one region (Vertical, Horizontal, Alaska, Hawaii, PR/VI).

C

24 Will the Government please allow “Volume of Past DOD Contracts” to be excluded from the (Part I) 75-page count (Section H) ?

No, the firm shall provide all data for these secondary criteria on Part 1, Section H of the SF330 C

25 Will the Government please allow CPARS EVALUATIONS and PPQs to be excluded from the (Part I) 75-page (Section H) or may we provide these forms in an Appendix outside Part I?

CPARS evaluations and PPQs attached as an Apendix will not count toward the 75 page limitation. Please read answer to question 22 in attachment to the synopsis "Synopsis Attachment (Qas) 20210519".

C

26 May we provide a single page Cover Letter that is excluded from the (Part I) 75-page count? No, a single page cover letter will not count towards 75-page limit. Please read answer to question 7 in attachment to the synopsis "Synopsis Attachment (QAs) 20210519".

C

27 The solicitation states, “SF 330, in Adobe format and the most current edition (https://www.gsa.gov/formslibrary/ architect-engineer-qualifications), must be used..” Does this mean firms may only use the fillable form to be compliant with the solicitation? Or, may we use a different software to produce the SF 330 in an Adobe PDF?

A similar question was asked regarding the Region 3 horizontal IDIQ, but we are requesting clarification if the government response applies to the Fire Protection IDIQ as well.

See answer to question 8. C

28 Re: RFI Response #2, 26 May 2021 Please clarify: is the intent for offerors to use the first page from each section of the fillable SF330 form on the GSA website and attaching sheets from Word or other publishing software behind each?

Please consider allowing offerors to use Word or other publishing software for the entire package, similar to recent response under the NGB Regional Horizontal and Vertical IDIQs, which read: “Firms may use different software or word documents, ultimately converted to an Adobe PDF, as long as all of the information required by the most current version of SF 330 is included. The link in the solicitation is provided for convenience, but is not mandatory.”

See answer to question 8. C

29 In the NGB Horizontal Region 03 and NGB Vertical Region 08, a question was asked if A-E’s have to use the Adobe fillable form pdf to be compliant with the solicitation or if we could use a different software to produce the SF 330 -as long as ultimately it is converted to an Adobe PDF. The response for both regions allows A-E’s to use different software or word documents as long as the Sf330 is ultimately converted to an Adobe PDF. Please confirm different software or word documents are also allowed to be used (if they are ultimately converted into Adobe PDF) in creating this Nationwide Fire Suppression SF 330 submission.

See answer to question 8. C

FIRE SUPPRESSION

Synopsis RFIs Solicitation No. W9133L-21-R-6000 (16 June 2021)

Question #8 for the Region 8 Vertical IDIQ provided the following answer. Please confirm that this answer also applies to Notice # W9133L-21-R-6000.

Question: The solicitation states, “SF 330, in Adobe format and the most current edition (Caution-https://www.gsa.gov/formslibrary/architect-engineer-qualifications), must be used.” Does this mean firms may only use the fillable form to be compliant with the solicitation? Or, may we use a different software to produce the SF 330 in an Adobe PDF?

Answer: Firms may use different software or word documents, ultimately converted to an Adobe PDF, as long as all of the information required by the most current version of SF 330 is included.

See answer to question 8. C

31 We have several clients tracking the below oppty...

sol#W9133L-21-R-6000 and titled "NGB Fire Protection – National Architect and Engineering Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity Contract" oppty

The sam.gov reminder url is:

https://sam.gov/opp/d684f932409b465999f717ad24cfd5c7/view

Can you share if this IDIQ has incumbents already on board?

No contracts relating to Solicitation No. W9133L-21-R-6000 have been awarded. C

FIRE SUPPRESSION

Synopsis RFIs Solicitation No. W9133L-21-R-6000 (16 June 2021)