R--Engineering Technician Services

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. 1. This is a combined synopsis/solicitation, issued as Request for Quotations (RFQ) W91A2K-0061-2037, for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6 and in conjunction with FAR Subpart 13, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION; QUOTATIONS ARE BEING REQUESTED AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE ISSUED. This solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-36. This acquisition is a 100% small business set aside under NAICS code 541330, which has a small business size standard of 4.5 million dollars. 2. BACKGROUND - The US Army Research Development and Engineering Command Contracting Center, Natick Contracting Division (NCD), on behalf of the Combat Feeding Directorate, has a requirement for an Engineering Technician to support Engineers working on a wide range of Research and Development projects. The Combat Feeding Directorate needs a Contractor who will provide technical engineering support to a diverse team of engineers engaged in a wide range of research and product development projects for field feeding equipment and systems for a 12 month period. 3. ACQUISITION APPROACH - This is a competitive commercial acquisition for the award of a single, firm fixed price, service contract for the above mentioned engineering technician. The Government reserves the right to make multiple awards or to make no award as a result of this combined synopsis/solicitation. The award will be made to the best overall proposal or combination of proposals, which is determined to be the most beneficial to the Government. Specifically, a best-value trade-off process will be used for this procurement to select the most advantageous offer based on an integrated assessment of both non-price (Technical and Past Performance) and Price factors. 4. STATEMENT OF WORK 1. Background: The contractor will provide technical engineering support to a diverse team of engineers engaged in a wide range of research and product development projects for field feeding equipment and systems. The team engages in a wide range of technical research and development efforts involving: Thermodynamics, heat transfer, refrigeration, heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, fluid dynamics, hydraulics, pneumatics, process controls and automation, electrical distribution, etc. 2. Requirements: Over the course of this work effort, the contractor shall provide broad engineering technical support, on site, to ongoing research and development projects involving field feeding equipment and systems for the Army. a. General Requirements: The contractor shall: (1) Provide broad and complex engineering technical support to a team comprised of research and development engineers (predominately mechanical) engaged in a wide range of technology and equipment development efforts (2) Have substantial engineering technical support experience in a research and development environment (3) Have substantial experience in the design, testing, modification, operation and maintenance of process control equipment and systems including the design and fabrication of control panels. (4) Have substantial experience in troubleshooting and repairing electrical systems (120v, 208v, 480v-single and three phase) (5) Have substantial experience in the troubleshooting and repair of motors, pumps, pneumatic and hydraulic systems (6) Have experience in the maintenance, repair, and operation of environmental test chambers (7) Have experience in the maintenance and operation of testing and instrumentation systems used in a research and development setting (8) Have experience in establishing and executing project plans that support overall engineering research and development efforts b. Specific Requirements: (1) Performs routine to moderately complex engineering analysis and prepares technical reports. (2) Performs or assists in preliminary layouts and drawings for a wide range of equipment, using engineering criteria, subject matter expertise, and judgment (3) Performs engineering analysis to determine cause of malfunction of field equipment items (4) As required, modifies equipment to meet specific installation configuration requirements (5) Prepares shop drawings and sketches for the construction of prototypical hardware items of a mechanical nature (6) Prepares technical specifications for review/approval and prepares cost and material estimates (7) Tests equipment using a wide range of test and instrumentation (T&I) apparati and prepares modifications procedures to adapt (T&I) hardware to meet specific test requirements (8) Builds, modifies and assembles prototype field feeding systems. 3. Period of Performance: 12 months 4. Deliverable(s): a. Perform design, testing and evaluation of prototype field feeding systems for the Combat Feeding Directorates Food Systems & Equipment Team (FSET) (PM-FSS). b. Develop and provide shop drawings and sketches for prototype field feeding equipment and kitchen systems. c. Provide technical specifications, cost and material estimates for prototype field feeding equipment and kitchen systems. d. Provide a number of prototype field feeding systems to support the Battle Field Kitchen and other FSET projects 5. Report Requirements: Bi-weekly progress reports 6. Security: Security clearance not required for this effort 7. Contractor Manpower Reporting: The Contractor shall perform manpower reporting as follows: The Contractor shall report all contractor manpower (including subcontractor manpower) required for performance of this contract using the format provided at the following web address: https://contractormanpower.army.pentagon.mil. The Contractor shall include the following: 1. Contracting Officer, Contracting Officers Technical Representative 2. Contract number 3. Beginning and ending dates covered by reporting period 4. Contractor name, address, phone number, email address, identify of contractor employee entering data 5. Estimated direct labor hours (including subcontractors) 6. Estimated direct labor hours paid this reporting period (including subcontractors) 7. Total payments (including subcontractors) 8. Predominant Federal Service Code (FSC) reflecting services provided by contractor (and separate predominant FSC for each subcontractor if different) 9. Estimated data collection cost 10. Organizational title associated with the Unique Identification Code (UIC) for the Army Requiring Activity. (UIC for this contract is W911QY) 11. Locations where contractor and subcontractors perform the work (specified by zip code in the United States and nearest city, country, when in overseas location, using standardized nomenclature provided on the website. 12. Presence of deployment or contingency contract language 13. Number of contractor and subcontractor employees deployed in-theater this reporting period (by country) The contractor shall also provide the estimated total cost (if any) incurred to comply with this reporting requirement. The reporting period shall be the period of performance not to exceed 12 months ending 30 September of each Government fiscal year and must be reported by 3 October of each calendar year. The Contractor may use a direct XML data transfer to the database server or fill in the fields on the website. The XML direct transfer is a format for transferring files from a contractors systems to the secure web site without the need for separate data entries for each required data element at the web site. The specific formats for the XML direct transfer may be downloaded from the web site. For additional information go to https://www3.natick.army.mil and click on Contractor Manpower Reporting. 5. ADDENDUM to FAR 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors Commercial Items (SEP 2006). a. PERIOD FOR ACCEPTANCE OF OFFERS: The period for acceptance of offers that were received by the required due date and time is one hundred and twenty (120) days. The Government anticipates making a single award but reserves the right to make multiple or no awards. Contractors are not authorized to make multiple submissions. b. QUESTIONS: Questions concerning this Solicitation should be sent to Mr. Michael Griffin at contact@example.gov by 16 March 2010 @ 5:00 PM EST. PHONE CALLS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED c. QUOTATION DELIVERY INSTRUCTIONS- Proposals in response to this Solicitation shall be sent to the following address and must be received by the Government by the due date of 18 March 2010 @ 12:00 PM (EST). Mr. Michael Griffin U.S. Army RDECOM Contracting Center Natick Contracting Division 1 Kansas Street, Natick, MA 01760 d. PROPOSAL PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS - All information shall be confined to the appropriate file. The offeror shall confine submissions to essential matters, sufficient to define the proposal and provide adequate basis for evaluation. Offerors are responsible for including sufficient details, in a concise manner, to permit a complete and accurate evaluation of each proposal. Offerors proposal shall comply with the following: i. Outline- A written technical proposal must be submitted. The offeror is required to submit information including contact information for similar services performed for other customers. A price proposal is required to be submitted by offeror. ii. Quotations received after the receipt deadline will result in the proposal being deemed unacceptable and therefore will not be evaluated by the government. Also, please carefully read FAR Clause 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors Commercial Acquisition. iii. Government will evaluate the Offerors capability accordingly. Offerors are advised to ask the contracting officer for clarification of any part of these instructions that they do not understand. iv. CLASSIFIED DATA- No classified data shall appear in the proposal and shall not be submitted electronically. Should an Offeror believe a need exists to provide classified information to support their proposal, separate instructions will be provided for submission of classified information in the solicitation. Contact the Contracting Officer for information on submitting classified data. e. TECHNICAL DATA i. A written proposal shall be provided that does not exceed 10 pages (one sided, single spaced, 12 font), which discusses the following criteria. 1. Demonstrated experience working as an engineering technician in an R&D environment: Minimum of 5 years. 2. Demonstrated experience in the design, testing, and modification of process control systems and equipment 3. Demonstrated experience in the setup and use of instrumentation and test equipment 4. Demonstrated broad range knowledge of electrical, mechanical, HVAC and fluid systems (plumbing) f. PAST PERFORMANCE i. Past Performance: Offerors shall submit a list of all Government contracts, which are relevant to the efforts required by this solicitation. Relevant efforts are defined as contracts for efforts involving a deliverable similar in nature to the one required by this solicitation. Data concerning the prime offeror shall be provided first followed by each proposed major subcontractor, in alphabetical order. g. PRICE / COST i. The offeror must submit a complete price proposal for this acquisition. ii. Offerors shall submit a completed copy of the provisions at FAR 52.212-3 and DFARS 252.212-7000, unless a completed copy of these provisions is available online at ORCA. 6. FAR 52.212-2 EVALUATIONCOMMERCIAL ITEMS (JAN 1999) - a. The Government will award one contract as a result of this solicitation, but reserves the right to award no contracts, if no offers are found to be acceptable for award. The Government intends to award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers: i. Technical capability of offeror to meet the Government requirement; (ii) past performance; (iii) price/cost (see FAR 15.304) 1. Technical and past performance, when combined, is significantly more important when compared to price. b. Options- The Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. The Government may determine that an offer is unacceptable if the option prices are significantly unbalanced. Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s). c. A written notice of award or acceptance of an offer mailed or otherwise furnished to the successful offeror within the time for acceptance specified in the offer, shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party. Before the offer's specified expiration time, the Government may accept an offer (or part of an offer), whether or not there are negotiations after its receipt, unless a written notice of withdrawal is received before award. d. All proposals will be evaluated by a team of Government employees using in accordance with the process identified below, conducted as follows: i. Factors to be Evaluated: 1. Factor 1 Technical Approach 2. Factor 2 Past Performance 3. Factor 3 Price ii. The relative order of importance of the evaluation factors is as follows: Technical Approach is more important than Past Performance. The non-Price factors combined are significantly more important than the Price factor. Offerors are cautioned that award may not necessarily be made to the lowest price offered. iii. Phase I - The non-price factors will be evaluated to support best-value trade-off process for the two non-price factors. The non-price factors will be assigned an adjective rating and proposals with an adjective rating below acceptable will not be considered for award. The following adjective ratings will be assigned to the offerors technical and past performance portion of the proposal: 1. Excellent -The technical proposal has exceptional merit and reflects an excellent approach which will clearly result in the superior attainment of all requirements and objectives. This clearly achievable approach includes numerous advantageous characteristics of substance, and essentially no disadvantages, which can be expected to result in outstanding performance. The risk of unsuccessful performance is very low as the prototype provides strengths which are supported in the written technical proposal. The technical factors are further considered very low risk in that they are exceptionally clear and precise, fully supported, and demonstrate a clear understanding of the requirements. Essentially no doubt exists that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort based on their past performance record. 2. Good - The technical proposal demonstrates a sound approach which is expected to meet all requirements and objectives. This sound approach includes advantageous characteristics of substance, and few relatively minor disadvantages, which collectively can be expected to result in satisfactory performance. The risk of unsuccessful performance is low as the proposal contains solutions which are considered feasible and practical. These solutions are further considered to reflect low risk in that they are clear and precise, supported, and demonstrate an understanding of the requirements. Past performance indicates little doubt that the offeror perform the required effort. 3. Acceptable- The technical proposal demonstrates an approach which is capable of meeting all requirements and objectives. The approach includes both advantageous and disadvantageous characteristics of substance, where the advantages are not outweighed by the disadvantages. Collectively, the advantages and disadvantages are likely to result in acceptable performance. The risk of unsuccessful performance is moderate, as the proposal solutions are generally feasible and practical. These solutions are further considered to reflect moderate risk in that they are somewhat clear and precise, partially supported, and demonstrate a general understanding of the requirements. Some doubt exists that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort based on their past performance record. 4. Marginal - The technical proposal demonstrates an approach which may not be capable of meeting all requirements and objectives. The approach has disadvantages of substance and advantages, which if they exist, are outweighed by the disadvantages. Collectively, the advantages and disadvantages are not likely to result in satisfactory performance. The risk of unsuccessful performance is high as the proposal contains solutions which may not be feasible and practical. These solutions are further considered to reflect high risk in that they lack clarity and precision, are generally unsupported, and do not demonstrate a complete understanding of the requirements. Significant doubt exists that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort based on their performance record. 5. Unacceptable - The technical proposal demonstrates an approach which, based on a very high risk, will very likely not be capable of meeting all requirements and objectives. This approach has numerous disadvantages of substance, and advantages which, if they exist, are far outweighed by disadvantages. Collectively, the advantages and disadvantages will not result in satisfactory performance. The risk of unsuccessful performance is very high as the proposal contains solutions which are not feasible and practical. The solutions are further considered to reflect very high risk in that they lack any clarity or precision, are unsupported, and do not demonstrate an understanding of the requirement. It is extremely doubtful that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort based on their performance record iv. The Government will evaluate the Price factor of the proposals. Price will be evaluated for reasonableness. Each proposals price factor will be considered in relation to its non-price factors. Offerors are cautioned that award may not necessarily be made to the lowest price offered. 9. FAR 52.252-2 CLAUSES INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE (FEB 1998). This contract incorporates one or more clauses by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer will make their full text available. Also, the full text of a clause may be accessed electronically at this/these address (es): Http://farsite.hill.af.mil/farsite_alt.html (End of clause) The following FAR and DFARS provisions and clauses apply to this acquisition and are incorporated herein by reference: 52.202-1 -- Definitions 52.203-3 -- Gratuities (Apr 1984) 52.203-6 -- Restrictions on Subcontractor Sales to the Government (Jul 1995) Alternate I (Oct 1995) 52.204-7 -- Central Contractor Registration 52.212-4 -- Contract Terms and Conditions 52.212-5 -- Contract Terms and Conditions Required To Implement Statutes Or Executive Orders -- Commercial Items (DEVIATION) 52.222-3 -- Convict Labor (Jun 2003) 52.222-19 -- Child Labor-Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies (Jun 2004) 52.222-21 -- Prohibition of Segregated Facilities (Feb 1999) 52.222-26 -- Equal Opportunity (Apr 2002) 52.222-35 -- Equal Opportunity for Special Disabled Veterans, Veterans of the Vietnam Era, and Other Eligible Veterans (Dec 2001) 52.222-36 -- Affirmative Action for Workers with Disabilities (Jun 1998) 52.222-37 -- Employment Reports on Special Disabled Veterans, Veterans of the Vietnam Era, and other Eligible Veterans (Dec 2001) 52.222-54 -- Employment Eligibility Verification 52.225-1 -- Buy American Act 52.225-13 -- Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases (Dec 2003) 52.232-33 -- Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer-Central Contractor Registration (Oct 2003) 52.247-34 -- FOB Destination 52.252-6 -- Authorized Deviations in Clauses 252.212-7001 -- Contract Terms and Conditions Required To Implement Statutes Or Executive Orders -- Commercial Items (DEVIATION) 252.225-7002 -- Qualifying Country Sources as Subcontractors 252.225-7012 -- Preference for Certain Domestic Commodities. 252.204-7004 ALT A Central Contractor Registration (Nov 2003) and 252.225-7002 (Apr 2003). 252.212-7001 -- Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders Applicable to Defense Acquisitions of Commercial Items (Jan 2005) 252.225-7001 -- Buy American Act and Balance of Payments Program (Apr 2003) 252.225-7012 -- Preference for Certain Domestic Commodities (June 2004) 252.232-7003 -- Electronic Submission of Payment Requests (Jan 2004) Amendment 01 A. Responses to Offerors Questions 1.Can you please clarify the proposal due date and date for questions? ANSWER: THE DUE DATE FOR ALL QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS PROPOSAL IS 16 MARCH 2010 @ 5:00 PM EST. 2. Is this a new requirement or is there an incumbent? If there is an incumbent, who is that incumbent? ANSWER: THIS IS A NEW REQUIREMENT. 3.Would the government consider setting this aside as a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business requirement? ANSWER: THE GOVERNMENT HAS COORDINATED WITH SBA AND HAS DEEMED A 100% SMALL BUSINESS SET ASIDE APPROPRIATE FOR THIS ACQUISITION 4. The solicitation just came out and is due on 3/17/10. This is not much time to put this proposal together. Is there any chance on this solicitation being extended? ANSWER: THE PROPOSAL SUBMISSION DEADLINE WILL BE EXTENDED UNTIL THURSDAY 3/18/10 @ 12:00PM EST. 5. The solicitation does not seem to have enough requirements on the actual systems that the Army wants to procure. Do you have specific requirements on feeding systems? ANSWER: THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT PURCHASING A SYSTEM. THIS NOTICE IS FOR AN ENGINEERING TECHNICIANS SERVICES FOR 12 MONTHS. Amendment 02 A. Responses to Offerors Questions 1.Can this bid be email directly to you? ANSWER: YES OFFERS CAN BE EMAILED AS LONG AS THEY ARE IN BY 18 MARCH 2010 NO LATER THAN 12:00PM EST. 2. Approximately how many hours will this person work per year? ANSWER: THIS IS A 40 HOUR PER WEEK POSITION.