VR1_RFI Responses 28-54_20210513.pdf

RFI

Beta

SAM

No.

RFI Text

KO Response

Amend No./ Clarification

(C)

Change Reference Paragraph

28 Criteria B states “If the project is not 100% complete, note the current percentage and estimated date when the project will be completed…” Please confirm that projects at B2 level of completion will be evaluated equally against projects at B3 level of completion, or fully constructed.

Yes, Projects at B2 level or 95% completion will be evaluated equally against projects at B3 level or 100% completion, or fully constructed.

C 29 In Criteria D, “Relevancy is defined in the DOD guide…” Please confirm the DOD guide referenced.

The Guide referenced is listed in DFARs PGI 215.300. "See the policy tab for Director, Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy memorandum dated April 1, 2016, entitled “Department of Defense Source Selection Procedures"". This guide can be readily accessed at https://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/policy/policyvault/USA004370-14 DPAP.pdf

C 30 Regarding the requirement to include the DUNS number in the SF330

(PART I, Section B):

Can you confirm that if a Joint Venture is responding to the solicitation, that JV entity must have secured a DUNS number/CAGE code by the proposal due date (currently May 10, 2021)?

The notice will be amended to say the following:

Joint Venture Requirements - Parties wishing to propose as a joint venture must submit, with the Pro Forma documents, an executed copy of the joint venture agreement. The joint venture agreement shall be executed in accordance with FAR 4.102(d). Each joint venture partner shall submit evidence satisfactory to the Contracting Officer that its Board of Directors has approved its participation in the joint venture or by an instrument of similarly binding character in the case of an unincorporated entity. Offerors are reminded that to obtain an award the awardee, to include a joint venture, must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database. Applicable to set aside solicitations: Joint Ventures must meet applicable size standards (See FAR Subpart 19.1). Submit with the proposal any size determination for the Joint Venture entity received from the Small Business Administration. A Joint Venture where-in one party is not a small business may be referred to the Small Business Administration (IAW FAR 19.302 (b)) to determine eligibility. All questions regarding Joint Ventures must be directed to the Small Business Administration (SBA) and not the Contracting Officer.

Amend 005 Selection Criteria: B

31 Criteria E Knowledge of Locality of the Project Areas…the solicitation states “List construction contractors with references from within the area who you have designed work for and partnered with to construct.” Please clarify the how this information will be evaluated as it relates to a FAR Part 36.6 Architect Engineer Selection. Typically A-E firms work for the owner and not the construction contractor in a design-bid-build project . Is the Government asking about design-build experience?

The synopsis will be changed from:

"List construction contractors with references from within the specified region who you have worked for as the Designer of Record on a construciton project (i.e. Type C/Title II services)."

TO

"List construction contractors with references from within the specified region for whom you have been contracted with as the Designer of Record on a Design-Build project, or for whom you have been contracted for Type C/construction administration services by a third party."

Amend 005 Selection Criteria: E

32 Criteria B – Specialized Experience and Technical Competence: Will greater consideration be given to new construction or rehabilitation projects?

No, Greater consideration will not be given on the merits soley between new construction and rehabilitation projects but the whole breadth and depth of experience identified in Criteria B and similarities to the scope identified in this announcement.

C 33 Criteria B – Specialized Experience and Technical Competence: Will greater consideration be given to Design-Bid-Build projects or Design-Build RFP projects? Or will both project types be evaluated equally?

Yes, Design-Bid-Build experience will be evaluated as a stronger indicator of specialized experience and technical competence than similar Design-Build experience due to the amount of technical design required. Note: The Government is requesting a minimum of (1) design-build experience under Criteria B – Specialized Experience and Technical Competence Subsection (9) to be evaluated in conjunction with all Criteria B – Specialized Experience and Technical Competence requirements.

C 34 Criteria B – Specialized Experience and Technical Competence: The RFP states that if a project is not 100-percent complete to note the current percentage and estimated date when the project will be completed for each contract and/or task order. Can you please confirm if this is design or construction completion? Is there a percent-complete lower limit that is acceptable for this solicitation? Finally, will the government provide greater consideration to projects that are 100-percent design complete versus projects that are less-than 100-percent complete?

Design as well Construction would be considered when applicable such as construction administration activities (Type C/Title II). Yes, Percentage levels will be evaluated equally. 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.

See Amendment 005, Sections B & D for updates to the synopsis.

Amend 005

Selection Criteria: B & D

35 Criteria B – Specialized Experience and Technical Competence: Under Criteria B, subsection 12, it asks offerors to describe in Section H of the SF330 the firm’s quality management plan, quality assurance process, coordination of in-house work consultants and prior experience of the prime firm and significant consultants or partner firms etc. Please confirm that this evaluation factor is for Criteria B Specialized Experience and Technical Competence.

Criteria B subparagraph 12 requires utilizing Section H of the SF 330 to answer that portion of the specialized Experience. The client's Criteria B subparagraph 12 information in Section H will be evaluated under Criteria B.

C 36 Criteria E – Knowledge of the Locality of the Project Areas: The solicitation asks to describe the extent of your familiarity with the defined local area construction industry expertise and its standard practices and to list construction contractors with references from within the area who you have designed work for and partnered with to construct. Request government consideration to remove any requirement to list Construction General Contractors who we have worked with in the area. Requiring this criteria unfairly disadvantages those AE firms who do not perform Design-Build AE services within the area. Some AE firms may be very knowledgeable and provide extensive Design-Bid-Build (DBB) AE services within the area, but would be disadvantaged by not having worked directly with a GC in the area. If the government is interested in highlighting DB work, it can emphasis design experience as a Designer of Record for DB or DB RFP development projects within Section F and/or Section E without requiring a listing of General Contractors. It is highly unusual to request an AE firm to list/reference General Contractors by name in a Brooks Act solicitation.

The synopsis will be changed from "List construction contractors with references from within the specified region who you have worked for as the Designer of Record on a construction project (i.e. Type C/Title II services)."

TO

"List construction contractors with references from within the specified region for whom you have been contracted with as the Designer of Record on a Design-Build project, or for whom you have been contracted for Type C/construction administration services by a third party."

A formal change of this requirement is in Amendment 005

Amend 005

Selection Criteria E. Last Sentence

37 Criteria D – Past Performance: In many instances when performing services as the Designer of Record (DoR) for a Design-Build (DB) project, the accepted industry-practice for past performance feedback for the AE firm is the use of Past Performance Questionnaires (PPQs). Please confirm that PPQs are acceptable documentation of Past Performance for offeror’s Section F projects?

Yes, PPQs is an acceptable documentation of Past Performance for offeror’s Section F projects.

C 38 Additional Requirements – The solicitation notes ‘To avoid a conflict of interest, any contractor proposing as a prime may not have a subcontractor who is also proposing as a prime.’ Can you please confirm that this statement only applies to subcontractors for the region the offeror is responding to, and not if that subcontractor is submitting on other NGB Horizontal and/or Vertical regions.

Yes, Only for the region the offeror is responding to they may not overlap. However, this solicitation shall be viewed as one singular solicitation, and a firm submitting a package as a prime may not also be listed as a sub in another submitted package under this solicitation (i.e. a small business may not be a sub on a submitted package from an unrestricted firm, and also submit a package as a prime for a small business submission).

C

39 Contract Information - As an offeror competing for a Small Business Set Aside that performs complex projects with a Programmed Amount (PA) exceeding $3M to over $100M, and will be responding in a Mentor-Protege Joint Venture which provides the capacity of a large business firm, we respectfully request the governments consideration to allow Small Business firms to compete for Complex A-E task order requirements with a PA above $3M among both the Small Business and Unrestricted Firms.

Guidelines described in the notice remain unchanged.

C 40 Criteria B – Specialized Experience and Technical Competence: Will greater consideration be given to new construction or renovation projects?

See answer to Question 32

C 41 Criteria B – Specialized Experience and Technical Competence: Will greater consideration be given to projects that are located within Region 1 boundaries?

Yes, Projects from within the identified region with similar scope identified in this announcement will be given greater consideration.

C 42 Criteria B – Specialized Experience and Technical Competence: Under subsection (3) under Criteria B the solicitation states that the Government may provide additional consideration for engineers and architects who have attended a DoD Security Engineer Course. This course appears to be designed for Active Duty and DoD Civilian Personnel and select sponsored AE firms. Based on the fact this course is not open to non-sponsored AE firms, and in an effort to have a level playing field, we request government consideration to remove the DoD Security Engineer Course reference from the solicitation. If the government determines that the criteria will remain, will individuals that hold this certification be evaluated with greater consideration? Can you also please confirm if this evaluation criteria applies to Criteria B Specialized Experience and Technical Competence or Criteria A Professional Qualifications.

Reference Amendment #0001, Posted on 29 April 2021

C 43 Regarding the registration requirement for Geologist, due to the importance of experience within Region 1 for this field and the restrictive nature of AIPG certification, will certification as a Professional Geologist from a state certified board and membership in the American Institute of Professional Geologists be acceptable?

No, Refer to Criteria A, for minimum accetpable requirements.

C 44 What are the T02 Testing & Inspection Services that you are interested in us providing experience with? Typically for facility projects, these services are passed on to the construction contractor and we just oversee the testing and results. Or is this a request for environmental testing such as asbestos or lead based paint survey?

Please elaborate.

The Government is looking for demonstration of T02 Testing and Inspection experience in evaluating contractor's submittals, request for change, request for information, and performing construction surveillance. Refer to Criteria B subsection (7).

C 45 As the Designer of Record, we have been contracted for Type C Services on most projects going into construction. We feel Type C Services includes professional services as it includes such services as Title II oversight, commissioning, LEED, FF&E, RFIs, submittal reviews and value engineering analysis which typically include further design services during construction. We typically also complete the record drawing set at the end of construction which is professional services. Therefore, please verify the six years preceding the date of announcement does include the professional services provided during Type C Services.

Reference Amendment #0001, Criteria D, Posted on 29 April 2021

In Past Performance (SF330, Part I, Section H), The Government would be able to consider construction administration activities (Type C) if applicable. Type A/B designs will not be considered if that portion of the design services was complete prior to the acceptable 6-year time period, regardless of whether or not those services were provided under the same contract as Type C services started or completed within the acceptable 6-year time period.

C 46 In criteria D, Past Performance, can you clarify that your request for all relevant contracts refers to submitting a list of our firm’s previously awarded IDIQ contracts and not all of our firm’s task orders awarded from each IDIQ contract in the last 6 years?

Per Criteria D, "Firms must provide relevant past performance in the accomplishment of similar work. Relevancy is defined in the DOD guide, as it pertains to the collection and use of past performance, as information that has a logical connection with the matter under consideration and application period..

C 47 We plan to include PPQs, Letters of Commendation, CPARS etc as an appendix to our submission. We request verification that the appendix will not be considered part of the 75-page limit?

After further review the Government decided that, bound Letters of Commendation attached separately as an appendix for ease, will not count against the 75-page limitation. NOTE: This changes the response for RFI #14.

C 48 As it relates to Part I, Section F Projects - Is the “6 year preceding” limit inclusive of

Type C services performed by the A/E during construction?

Reference Amendment #0001, Criteria D, Posted on 29 April 2021

C 49 We had a question regarding the SF330 Projects, the solicitation says a maximum of ten (10) projects within the past six (6) years preceding the date of this announcement for both, the prime firm and subcontractor(s) in PART I, Section F, of the SF330.

Examples of projects shall not exceed two (2) pages each.

Can you please tell me if this means 10 for the Prime and 10 for the Subcontracts or 10 projects TOTAL?

The synopsis will be changed from: "The offeror shall provide a maximum of ten (10) projects within the past six (6) years preceding the date of this announcement for both, the prime firm and subcontractor(s) in PART I, Section F, of the SF330. Examples of projects shall not exceed two (2) pages each."

TO

"The offeror shall provide a combined maximum of ten (10) projects in total within the past six (6) years preceding the date of this announcement for both, the prime firm and subcontractor(s) in PART I, Section F, of the SF330. Examples of projects shall not exceed two (2) pages each.

A formal change of this requiremnt is in Amendment 005 Revise amendment.

Amend 005

Selection Criteria B First Paragraph

50 The revision to the past performance section requires firms to submit information for relevant contracts and subcontracts including the name, address, and telephone number of references. We have interpreted this to mean we need to submit name, address, and telephone number of a reference for allrelevant contracts and subcontracts started or completed within the past six (6) years measured from the date of the notice. The six years requirement is for the portion of the professional services (i.e. design efforts). As a large business, this is a multi-page list of information. Would you consider excluding this list from the 75 page count for the Part I submittal?

Per Criteria D, "Firms must provide relevant past performance in the accomplishment of similar work... Relevancy is defined in the DOD guide, as it pertains to the collection and use of past performance, as information that has a logical connection with the matter under consideration and application period.." However, firms are asked to only submit past performance deemed to be the most relevant. Tabulated data and written summaries submitted to address this criteria will count towards the 75-page limit, with the exception of specific exclusions noted previously (letters of commendation, CPARS, etc.) which may be attached as an appendix and will not count towards the 75-page limit.

C 51 Can we use 8 point font for charts and graphics in Section H? No, 8 point font will not be acceptable

C 52 Criteria A - For the environmental engineer or physical scientist, please confirm that a physical scientist with a Certified Environmental Professional credential from the Academy of Board Certified Environmental Professionals will be accepted in place of the requirements for a state examination and state certification board.

Yes, a Certified Enironmental Professional credential from the Academy of Baord Certified Envrionmental Professionals is acceptable.

C 53 I have downloaded the VR1_RFI Responses and reviewed the three amendments.

I’ve read and reread the statement regarding the requirements for Criteria A – Professional Qualifications and though the paragraph has been amended, it still reads the same to me. Please confirm that you require all discipline resumes to have a bachelor’s degree.

Per Criteria A, the notice requires "All engineers, architects and the project manager must have the following in the role they are assigned to on the project team; a bachelor's degree, professional registration, and at least five years of relevant experience..."

C 54 Environmental Engineer or Physical Scientist with experience in NEPA processes;

registered engineer or similar registration that includes documented work history, state examination, and state certification board.

Please clarify that if we propose a professional in the Physical Scientist position, they do not need to possess a certification?

Physical Scientist must have certification and experience in NEPA processes.

Certification is either a registered engineer or similiar registration that includes documented work history, state examination, and state certification board.

C