U--Contract for ECQ Preparation Services Base and One Year Option

Combined Synopsis/Solicitation For ECQ Preparation THIS IS A COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCAIL SERVICES AND PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FORMAT IN FAR SUBPART 12.6 STREAMLINED PROCEDURES FOR EVALUATION AND SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS-AS SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION; QUOTES ARE BEING REQUESTED AND A SEPARATE SOLICITATION DOCUMENT WILL NOT BE ISSUED. THE SOLICITATION IS BEING ISSUED USING SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION PROCEDURES. SOLICITATION VA786-17-Q-0028 IS BEING ISSUED AS A REQUEST FOR QUOTE (RFQ). THIS NOTICE AND THE INCORPORATED PROVISIONS AND CLAUSES ARE THOSE IN EFFECT THROUGH THE FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATIONS (FAR). ALL RESPONSIBLE SOURCES MAY SUBMIT A QUOTE. FAR clauses and provisions enclosed within this RFQ are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-80 and are available in full text through Internet access at http://www.acquisition.gov/far. 1. This is a 100% Small Business (SB), Open Market procurement. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), National Cemetery Administration (NCA) intends to award a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) Contract for a Base Period and One (1) Year Period. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 541612 Human Resources Consulting and the size standard is $15.0M. Any firm that does not meet the capability and size standard under this NAICS code should not submit a response. Prospective awardees MUST be registered with the System for Award Management (SAM )at http://www.sam.gov , PRIOR TO AWARD and through final payment, and must complete the Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA) at http://www.sam.gov prior to award and through final payment. CONTRACT WILL NOT BE AWARDED UNTIL SAM REGISTRATION HAS BEEN COMPLETED. 2. This requirement is to provide Executive Core Qualification (ECQ) coaching, including feedback to individual candidates on qualifying in the OPM ECQs for Senior Executive Service (SES) certification and demonstrating these qualifications in writing. 3. This combined synopsis & solicitation notice is a request for competitive quotes. Therefore, all capability statements or quotations received prior to the RFQ close date will be considered by the Contracting Office. A single award will be made to the Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) offeror. The Period of Performance shall commence five (5) days after the Notice to Proceed has been issued. The schedule price shall be all-inclusive, including all labor, equipment, materials, and supplies to complete the Contract Line Item (CLIN(s)) Base Year - Award thru September 30, 2017: CLIN Description: Grounds Maintenance Services Est. Qty Unit Unit Cost Total Cost 001 Prepare ECQ for OPM certification 150 Hour $ $ - Total Base Cost: $ Option Year I - October 1, 2017 thru September 30, 2018: CLIN Description: Grounds Maintenance Services Est. Qty Unit Unit Cost Total Cost 101 Prepare ECQ for OPM certification 150 Hour $ $ - Total Option Period One Cost: $ Total Price Base + Option: The schedule price shall be all-inclusive, including all labor, equipment, materials, and supplies to complete the Contract Line Item (CLIN(s)) SEE ATTACHED-STATEMENT OF WORK ATTACHMENT A-VENDOR PORTAL GUIDE ATTACHMENT B-LIST OF REFERENCES 4. The following Provisions and Clauses apply to this procurement: a). The provision at 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors -- Commercial, applies to this acquisition. Quotes are due on November 7, 2016 1:00 PM EST. ALL QUESTIONS SHALL BE DIRECTED TO THE CONTRACT SPECIALIST AND CONTRACTING OFFICER ONLY! Interested offerors must submit any questions concerning the solicitation at the earliest time possible to enable the Buyer to respond. Questions must be submitted via email to Antionette Collins-Somerville at contact@example.gov. All questions must be received by no later than November 2, 2016 at 1:00PM E.S.T. to give reasonable time to respond to questions prior to close of the solicitation. No questions will be accepted after November 2, 2016 at 3:00pm E.S.T. IT IS THE CONTRACTOR S RESPONSIBILITY FOR ENSURING PROPER SUBMISSION OF THEIR QUOTE IN THE VENDOR PORTAL. PROCEDURES FOR UPDATING AN ALREADY SUBMITTED QUOTE ARE PROVIDED IN THE VENDOR PORTAL GUIDE. Please go the VA eCMS Vendor Portal website at https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov to register. Once on the webpage, proceed to the Vendor Portal Login section located on the far left side of the webpage and click on Request a user account to register. In the event an Offeror is unable to submit their quote through the Vendor Portal domain, prior to the deadline for submission of quotes, contact the VAAS helpdesk at +1 (555) 000-0000, or via email at contact@example.gov. Quote transmission/successful uploads must be completed by the deadline for submission of quotes. ATTACHMENT A- Vendor eCMS Portal Guide Offerors unable to submit their quote through VA eCMS Vendor Portal, may submit their quotes via email, PROVIDED THE VA eCMS Vendor Portal registration requirements have been fulfilled AND Offerors have contacted the VAAS helpdesk for assistance in their quote submission. A copy of the email correspondence with the VAAS helpdesk shall be forwarded to the Contract Specialist, Antionette Collins-Somerville, at contact@example.gov as proof of email correspondence. If a request for assistance with the VAAS helpdesk proves unsuccessful in an Offeror s ability to submit a quote prior to the closing date, via the Vendor Portal, the Offeror shall submit to the Contracting Officer correspondence that contains the date, time, and name of helpdesk representative the Offeror contacted to include the reasons why the Offeror could not submit a quote via the Portal. The offeror shall receive approval from the contracting officer prior to submitting a quote via email. This document shall be submitted with the Offeror s quote. In the event an Offeror has not requested submission assistance from the VAAS help desk prior to the closing date, nor has submitted correspondence that identifies reasons why the Offeror could not submit their quote via Vendor Portal, the Offeror will be considered non responsive and the quote, if late, will not be accepted. Quote shall include the information listed below. Quotes that fail to furnish the required information, or reject the terms and conditions of the RFQ may be excluded from further consideration. The following factors will be considered when evaluating the quotes: Technical and Price. The Offeror s proposal shall consist of three (3) volumes. The Volumes are I Technical, Volume II Price, and Volume III - Certifications & Representations. 2. RFQ FILES. Offerors quotations shall be submitted in accordance with the following instructions: a. Format. The submission shall be clearly indexed and logically assembled. Each volume shall be clearly identified and shall begin at the top of a page. All pages of each volume shall be appropriately numbered and identified by the complete company name, date and solicitation number in the header and/or footer. Quotation page limitations are not applicable to this procurement. All files will be submitted as either a Microsoft Excel (.XLS) file or an Acrobat (PDF) file or compatible as indicated in the table. Page size shall be no greater than 8 1/2" x 11" with printing on one side, only. The top, bottom, left and right margins shall be a minimum of one inch (1 ) each. Font size shall be no smaller than 12-point. Arial or Times New Roman fonts are recommended. Characters shall be set at no less than normal spacing and 100% scale. Tables and illustrations may use a reduced font size not less than 8-point and may be landscape. Line spacing shall be set at no less than single space. Each paragraph shall be separated by at least one blank line. Page numbers, company logos, and headers and footers may be within the page margins ONLY, and are not bound by the 12-point font requirement. Footnotes to text shall not be used. All proprietary information shall be clearly and properly marked. Pages in violation of these instructions, either by exceeding the margin, font or spacing restrictions will not be evaluated. a. File Packaging. All of the proposal files may be compressed (zipped) into one file entitled proposal.zip using WinZip version 6.2 or later version or the proposal files may be submitted individually. b. Content Requirements. All information shall be confined to the appropriate file. The Offeror shall confine submissions to essential matters, sufficient to define the proposal and provide an 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. The titles and page limits requirements for each file are shown in the Table below: Volume Number Factor File Name Page Limitations* Volume I Technical: Literature Review ATTACHMENT B List of References (Company Name) Tech.pdf 50 Volume II Price (Company Name) Price.xls None Volume III Offer & Award Documents, Certifications & Representations (Company Name) OfrRep.pdf None Submit the following documents in response to this RFQ: a). VOLUME I-Technical Approach Detailed technical literature addressing the offerors approach to the requirements of the Statement of Work. Each Vendor shall provide a complete description of their technical capability and approach in a format and content applicable to the Statement of Work (SOW) requirements. Failure to provide any information may result in the Vendor being removed from consideration. Technical approach shall set forth in the most comprehensive manner the Vendor s technical understanding and approach to performing all of the specified requirements as delineated in SOW. The technical approach shall present a clear, concise description of how the Vendor plans to accomplish the technical efforts defined in the SOW. In total, the Vendor must describe the overall technical capability and approach for the work described in the SOW to include each unique tasking or activities described therein. The Vendor must demonstrate a technical understanding of the requirement and should not simply restate the SOW requirements without explanation of how tasks will be completed. Attachment B List of References shall be completed for the three most recent projects within the last five years that are similar in size, scope, and complexity. The offeror shall also include the number of years they have been in business, number of years performing similar services, their business size, insurance documents and copies of current certifications and applicable licenses needed to perform the contract. b). VOLUME II-Price Quotation - The Vendor shall submit pricing for the total performance period delineated by each task. Prices shall be provided in accordance with the format included in the planned CLIN structure schedule, and the quote shall include the basis of estimate (BOE) information used to calculate the total price. The quotation must specifically include the total level of effort for the SOW requirements. Vendor s quotes that do not include the total level of effort for the SOW requirements will be considered non-responsive and non-compliant with the Request for Quotation instructions. The Vendor s overall quoted price shall illustrate how the Vendor understands the SOW requirements by substantiating the validity of the Vendor s technical approach to performing the SOW requirements. Therefore, any limitations and/or assumptions in the price quotation shall be included by the Vendor. c).VOLUME III - OFFER AND AWARD DOCUMENTS AND CERTIFICATIONS/REPRESENTATIONS Certifications and Representations - An Acrobat PDF file shall be created to capture the signatures for submission. This Volume shall contain the following: Legal Business/Company Name (as it is indicated in www.sam.gov) DUNS Number Point of Contact Name Telephone number E-Mail Address Acknowledgement of Amendments, if any. Any proposed exceptions to solicitation terms and conditions Offerors are hereby advised that any Offeror-imposed terms and conditions which deviate from the Government s material terms and conditions established, may render the Offeror s quote Unacceptable, and thus ineligible for award. b). The provision at 52.212-2, Evaluation -- Commercial Items. The Government will 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 based on (LPTA) Lowest Priced Technically Acceptable: Quotes submitted in response to this RFQ will be evaluated based on the following criteria: CRITERIA 1: Technical Approach (Non-Price): The quotation will be evaluated for the vendor s response to the SOW requirements to determine if it demonstrates, a sound, thorough and viable technical approach that specifically addresses all aspects of the technical approach clearly and convincingly demonstrating subject matter expertise and understanding of the requirement. The Vendor shall provide evidence the extent to which they clearly and convincingly demonstrate their subject matter expertise, understanding of the tasks and understanding of the requirement. The Vendors quotation shall detail the planned technical approach that will be utilized to accomplish all the tasks in the SOW and offer a technical capability that clearly demonstrates the Vendor s ability to successfully perform all SOW requirements. Offerors shall include in their technical quote a narrative describing the firm s experience performing the services stated in the SOW. Offerors shall include a List of References for the three most recent projects within the last five years that are similar in size, scope, and complexity. The Technical Approach will be evaluated using the following adjectival ratings: RATING DEFINITION Acceptable Quote clearly meets capability requirements. Unacceptable Quote clearly fails to meet capability requirements. CRITIERIA 2: Price Approach Proposed pricing shall be provided on a unit price line basis in the Price and Schedule section. The Government will evaluate offers by adding the total of all line item prices. Pricing may be compared against the Independent Government Estimate (IGE) or against the average mean of the offers received and may be used to set a competitive range if discussions are deemed necessary. Failure to submit all required documentation as required may result in your submission being found to be technically unacceptable. c). The provision at Addendum to FAR 52.212-2 Evaluation-Commercial Items (OCT 2014). BASIS FOR AWARD: The Government will make award to one (1) vendor whose quotation offers an integrated approach for meeting the requirements of the SOW. The Government will evaluate all quotes on a Lowest-Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) basis. Any award will be made based on the result from selection of the technically acceptable quote with the lowest evaluated price. Award will be made to the lowest price technically acceptable, responsible contractor. To be technically acceptable, the service being quoted must meet the laid out tasks in the SOW. The Government reserves the right to award without discussions based on the initial evaluation of quotes. Offerors are urged to ensure that their quote is submitted on the most favorable terms, since less than their best potential could result in exclusion of the quote from further consideration. Assurances of technical capability without a clear demonstration to support the claim may adversely influence the evaluation of the quote. Failure to include all required documentation as required in this RFP, may result in your submission being found to be technically non-responsive and removed from further consideration. Evaluation Process: A Responsibility Determination will be made in accordance with FAR 9.1 Responsible Prospective Contractors. The Government will make use of several data bases to aid in establishing a more complete picture of responsibility and ability the databases include, but are not limited to Experian, PPIRS, EPLS, VetBiz and SBA. d).The provision at 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications -- Commercial Items applies to this acquisition. e). The clause at 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions -- Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition. f). The clause at 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required To Implement Statutes Or Executive Orders -- Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition. Clauses: SBA ACT 8(D)(13)(B); DIGNITY STANDARDS ; FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions (MAY 2015) applies to this acquisition. Addendum to The clause at FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items (OCT 2015) applies to this acquisition. Under paragraph b, the following clauses are incorporated: 52.203-99, Prohibition On Contracting With Entities That Require Certain Internal Confidentiality Agreements (DEVIATION) (FEB 2015); 52.216-18, Ordering (Oct 1995); 52.216-19, Order Limitations (OCT 1995); 52.216-21, Requirements (Oct 1995); 52.217-8, Option To Extend Services (NOV 1999); 52.217-9, Option To Extend The Term Of The Contract (MAR 2000); 52.228-5, Insurance-Work On A Government Installation (JAN 1997); 52.232-18, Availability Of Funds (APR 1984); 52.232-19, Availability of Funds For The Next Fiscal Year (APR 1984)Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) PROVISIONS AND CLAUSES: CLAUSES INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE: 52.252-2 Clauses Incorporated by Reference; Personal Identity Verification of Contractor Personnel (JAN 2011); 52.204-18, Commercial and Government Entity Code Maintenance (JUL 2015); 52.211-17 Delivery of Excess Quantities (SEP 1989); 52.223-2, Affirmative Procurement of Biobased Products Under Service and Construction Contracts (SEP 2013); 52.223-3, Hazardous Material identification and Material Safety Data; 52.223-5, Pollution Prevention and Right to Know Information (MAY 2011); 52.223-10, Waste Reduction Program (MAY 2011); 52.223-17, Affirmative Procurement of EPA-Designated (MAY 2008); 52.228-2, Additional Bond Security (OCT 1997); 52.228-16, Performance and Payment Bonds-Other Than Construction (NOV 2006); 52.232-40, Providing Accelerated Payments to Small Business Subcontractors (DEC 2013); 52.237-2, Protection of Government Buildings, Equipment, and Vegetation (APR 1984); 52.242-13, Bankruptcy (JUL 1995); 52.242-15, Stop Work Order (AUG 1987); 52.243-1, Changes-Fixed Price Alternate (APR 1987; 52.246-16 Responsibility For Supplies (APR 1984); 52.247-34, F.O.B. Destination (DEC 2013). Limitations on Subcontracting-Monitoring and Compliance (JUN 2011) http://www.acquisition.gov/far/index.html http://www.va.gov/oamm/oa/ars/policyreg/vaar/index.cfm Solicitation Provisions: 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors- Commercial Items (OCT 2015); 52.203-98, Prohibition On Contracting With Entities That Require Certain Internal Confidentiality Agreements-Representation (Deviation ) (FEB 2015); 52.209-5, Certification Regarding Responsibility Matters (OCT 2015); 52.209-5, Representation By Corporations Regarding An Unpaid Tax Liability Or Felony Conviction Under Any Federal Law (DEVIATION) (MAR 2012); 52.209-7, Information Regarding Responsibility Matters (JUL 2013); 52.216-1 Type Of Contract (APR 1984); 52.233-2, Service of Protest (Sep 2006); 52.237-1 Site Visit (APR 1984); 52.233-2, Service of Protest (JAN 2008). 52.212-2, Evaluation-Commercial Items (OCT 2014); 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items (OCT 2015); PROVISIONS AND CLAUSES: SOLICITATION PROVISION INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE: 52.204-7, System for Award Management (JUL 2013); 52.204-16, Commercial and Government Entity Code Reporting (JUL 2015); 52.2044-17, Ownership Or Control Of Offeror (NOV 2014); 52.211-6, Brand Name or Equal (AUG 1999); 52.223-1, Biobased Product Certification (MAY 2012). VAAR: The VAAR Clauses applicable to this acquisition are 852.203-70, Commercial Advertising (JAN 2008), 852.203-71, Display of Department of Veterans Affairs Hotline Poster (DEC 1992); 852.211-7,3 Brand Name or Equal (JAN 2008); 852.219-10, VA Notice of Total Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Set-Aside (DEC 2009); 852.228-70, Bond Premium Adjustment (JAN 2008); 853.232-72 Electronic Submission Of Payment Request (NOV 2012); 852.233-7,1 Alternate protest procedure (JAN 1998); 852.237-70, Contractor Responsibilities (APR 1984); 852.246-71, Inspection (JAN 2008); 852.270-1, Representatives of Contracting Officers (JAN 2008). Information concerning clauses and provision incorporated by reference may be obtained at http://farsite.hill.af.mil.