MOD | C | COMMISSIONING AND EXPERT PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

FBO DAILY ISSUE OF JULY 31, 2005 FBO #1343
MODIFICATION

C -- COMMISSIONING AND EXPERT PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Notice Date: 7/29/2005
Notice Type: Modification
NAICS: 541618 — Other Management Consulting Services
Contracting Office: General Services Administration, Public Buildings Service (PBS), Physical Capital Asset Management Division (PGE), 1800 F Street, NW, Room 4302, Washington, DC, 20405
ZIP Code: 20405
Solicitation Number: GS-00P-05-CY-0156
Response Due: 8/1/2005
Archive Date: 7/29/2006
Point of Contact: Paris Marshall, Contract Specialist (Contractor), Phone 202-219-1368, Fax 202-501-3836, - Regina Crews, Contracting Officer, Phone (202) 208-9990, Fax (202) 501-3836,
E-Mail Address: paris.marshall@gsa.gov, regina.crews@gsa.gov
Small Business Set-Aside: Partial Small Business
Description: This amendment shall ADD Attachment No. 1 into Solicitation No. GS-00P-05-CY-0156: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (Q & A) Attachment No. 1 Date: July 29, 2005 Q1: For Evaluation Factor III, the category states that this factor is worth 20%. So are questions A and B both worth 10% instead of the 5% listed? A1: Yes. The change has been incorporated in Amendment No. 3. Q2: "Small businesses shall indicate which key service areas they wish to be considered for award under." Could you please confirm that small businesses can state in their proposal, they wish to be consider for award for either commissioning, construction management, and/or project development (thus limiting their technical offer to just that area)? A2: The scope of these contracts is nationwide and must support all indicated services. Awards will not be made to contractor firms/joint ventures/consultant teams who can not collectively support all indicated services. It is understood that one firm (even large business firms who would compete for the unrestricted contract awards) will NOT embody all the resources/expertise that is required to perform all services. Joint Venture scenarios, or subcontractor alliances are a given. As with any contract, a single lead firm must assume coordination responsibilities for the contractor team firms involved. That could be your firm or some other firm. To be considered for the Small Business set-aside awards, all team member firms who would perform the “Key Services” of “Commissioning,” “Construction Management,” and professional A-E services for “Project Development” (i.e. project planning) must be Small Business firms. That said, specialty program area consultant firms that could support the Small Business set-aside key-service firms, may be Large Business; as might be required in dealing with program specialty interests such as security, geotechnical, sustainability, etc. Q3: I have been asked to the review the technology requirements for the above referenced projects. I am wondering if there is any additional information available for the Dr. Checks software program. I reviewed the information on the Web Site, but there really is no detailed information. Is there any possibility that there is a demonstration of the software that we could review? A3: Contact representatives from the Corps of Engineers, e.g. Mr. William East, or Mr. Jeff Kirby, on (217) 373-6730 to obtain more information, access, and perhaps training that relates to their DrChecks software. Certain information is also available through the Internet (e.g. http://www.buildersnet.org/drchecks/training/) Q4: If the size standard is in fact $6M, it is difficult to imagine a small business with a nationwide each and having 11 offices near the GSA Regional Centers. Does the GSA intend for the “prime” Small Businesses to cover a few of these areas and let their team members cover the rest or does the GSA expect to award contracts to Small Businesses to serve only specific regions? A4: Note that the four anticipated Small Business Set-Aside contract awards are not set for a maximum ordering limitation of $6,000,000/year – The Small Business contracts would have a maximum ordering limitation of $3,000,000/year. Only the anticipated 4 “unrestricted” contract awards would be at $6,000,000/year. It is understood that one firm (even many large business firms that would compete for the unrestricted contract awards) will NOT embody all the resources/expertise that is required to perform all services, in all areas of the country. Joint Venture scenarios, or subcontractor alliances are a given. As with any contract, a single lead firm must assume coordination responsibilities for the contractor team firms involved. That could be your firm or some other firm. Q5: How does the GSA intend to award task orders to the eventual successful contractors? Will every task order over $2,500 be offered to all 8 firms to “bid” upon or will task orders be offered to an individual contractor with costs negotiated? A5: When multiple contract awards involve the same scope of services, such as involved with this procurement, individual work orders can be competed for technical qualifications – e.g. the experience/past performance of proposed team members. Price will not usually be a factor in choosing from among competing firms. After selecting the most qualified firm, a fee negotiation will take place, based upon agreed-to level of effort. Respectfully, all task orders will be awarded in accordance with the Fair Opportunities Act (FAR 16.505), procedures established by the Brooks Act and FAR Subpart 36.6. Q6: In the second paragraph under Description and also under the heading “Business Size Standard” it appears to state that Small Businesses can prepare proposals to provide only one of the Key Services listed. Does this mean that we may focus on one or two services in which we are strong? Does this mean that if we, as prime, are strong in only two services (as an example), we do not have to provide qualifications in all of the areas? Please clarify. If it is permissible to submit on 2 of the 3 “Key Services,” may we only provide resumes for the applicable disciplines? A6: The scope of these contracts is nationwide and must support all indicated services. Awards will not be made to contractor firms/joint ventures/consultant teams who can not collectively support all indicated services. It is understood that one firm (even large business firms who would compete for the unrestricted contract awards) will NOT embody all the resources/expertise that is required to perform all services. Joint Venture scenarios, or subcontractor alliances are a given. As with any contract, a single lead firm must assume coordination responsibilities for the contractor team firms involved. That could be your firm or some other firm. Q7: Please clarify that there are only three key service areas, Commissioning, Construction Management, and Project Development. If this is the case, how will the “Expert Professional Services” be considered relative to source selection? A7: Reference to the thee key service areas are intended to emphasize the general categories of service activities involved with these contracts AND to help distinguish the requirements associated with the 4 anticipated Small Business Set-Aside contract awards. To be considered for the Small Business set-aside awards, all team member firms who would perform the “Key Services” of “Commissioning,” “Construction Management,” and professional A-E services for “Project Development” (i.e. project planning) must be Small Business firms. That said, specialty program area consultant firms that could support the Small Business set-aside key-service firms, may be Large Business; as might be required in dealing with program specialty interests such as security, geotechnical, sustainability, etc. Selection of firms either for the 4 Small Business set-aside contracts or the 4 “unrestricted” contracts will be based upon the evaluation factors reflected within the FedBizOpps advertisement. While significant weight will be associated with the qualifications available to perform Key Services, the ability of contractors to offer qualified specialty service contractors will also be considered. Q8: Do the successful contractors need to have professionally licensed architects and engineers with registrations that cover all 50 states in all required disciplines, or is it sufficient to simply have professionally licensed architects and engineers in at least one state for all required disciplines? A8: It is only required that involved contractor team members be registered in one state. Q9: Was wondering if you are planning on selecting 4 Small Business Contractors and 4 Large Business Contractors for the GSA Building Commissioning IDIQ contract. Could you please let me know? A9: It is currently anticipated that 4 Small Business contract awards and 4 unrestricted contract awards will be made. Only in the case where more or less numbered firms be considered “most qualified” would a reconsideration be made as to whether 4 firms would be selected in each category. Q10: I understand that there are three key service areas in the solicitation: Commissioning, Construction Management, and Project Development. I also noted the Building Science Disciplines related to Expert Professional Services. a) Could you clarify “Expert Professional Services” Are they all the other services listed except commissioning? b) Are “Expert Professional Services” a fourth key service/requirement, or are they services performed within the scope of the three key service areas? If so, would an example of “Expert Professional Services” be: performing a feasibility study pertaining to the Building Science Disciplines (sustainability, blast resistance, seismic safety, etc.) — a Project Development key service; providing commissioning services for a system designed based on the feasibility study — a Commissioning key service; and schedule control for construction for this system — a Construction Management key service? A10: a) Expert Professional Services characterizes the nature of these contracts in that all proposed disciplines should be considered expert. There may be a need to have technical specialty experts available to support the planning of a project, or its commissioning, or its construction management. b) Expert Professional Services are not a 4th Key Service area – It is a characterization of the qualifications expected by those who support this contracts. It also suggests specialty areas of expertise, such as those you listed. Q11: Are the various services listed under “Deliverables” a further detailing of the services to be provided under the three key service areas? For example: are the services listed under Criteria/Policy Development Services and Planning Stage (Pre-Design Services) examples related to the Project Development key service”? A11: The Deliverables heading is intended to provide examples of products associated with these IDIQ contracts. The three key service areas have some relationship to these deliverables, but should not be characterized as a structured sub-set: e.g. The IDIQ contract might have a work order to prepare a Program Development Study (PDS) - A PDS is part of the planning stage of a project (Project Development). The IDIQ contract might also contract for Design Review Services: This may be work that is packaged into CM or Commissioning services, or it can just be an isolated service. In this latter case, we may want to hire your team’s experts to review critical program goals/design features to insure attention to particular program goals. Q12: Will commissioning services be a component of every project, or will some projects just utilize project development or construction management services? A12: While GSA policy indicates that Building Commissioning will be associated with all its capital construction projects, these IDIQ contracts may be used for any professional service (except design). So, yes – if only project development or construction management services were needed, the IDIQ contract’s work order would limit the scope to just those services. Q13: We have seen projects with “Construction Manager as Constructor (CMc)” services where third party commissioning services are part of the CMc contract. Will this practice continue for certain projects? Or, might third party commissioning services be accessed for these projects through this solicitation? A13: Using a CMc contractor to coordinate commissioning is not generally recommended/ appropriate due to a potential conflict of interest. These IDIQ contracts can offer third party commissioning services for CMc delivery methods, or any type of delivery method. Q14: Can firms/teams selected through this solicitation bring on specialized subconsultants as needed for a specific project, or do all disciplines need to be addressed in the solicitation response? A14: If very specialized areas of expertise become necessary, then provisions within the IDIQ contract will enable their involvement by either incorporating the firm into the IDIQ contracts fee schedules (if an ongoing relationship is indicated), or as a direct cost add-on (noted as a “specialty consultant.”) For solicitation’s indicated areas of expertise, team member representation is expected as a factor in considering overall qualifications. Q15: The notice states, under Description: "Of the 8 potential awards, 4 will be unrestricted, inviting any combination of large and small business ventures. The remaining 4 awards will be 100% small business set-asides for key building services, such as commissioning, project development services, and construction management." Are all 8 awards expected to offer the referenced key building services, or only the Small Business Awards? A15: All 8 contract awards will have the same scope. All 8 contracts will involve all key services. The distinction related to small business set-asides is that we want all the key service activities to be primarily supported by small businesses, not enabling a small firm to broker work to larger firms. However, expert professional services (specialty consultants), such as blast resistance, geotechnical engineering, workplace performance, etc. may be supported by large businesses even for the small business set-aside contracts. Q16: The notice states, under Description of Services: "The Contractors shall plan, schedule, coordinate and ensure the full, effective, efficient and economical performance of all services stated below". However, the notice also states, under Business Size Standard: "Small businesses shall indicate which key service areas they wish to be considered for award under." Does GSA intend to award all (8) contracts to offerers who have full services capabilities, or 4 awards to large firms with full service capabilities and 4 awards to small businesses with limited service area capabilities? A16: All 8 contracts will be the same except for ordering limitation. All 8 contracts must be able to support nationwide work for all indicated services. It is expected that in order to support this nationwide focus, small business joint ventures or other business arrangements will be needed to offer nationwide services. Q17: Are offerers required to indicate which primary NAICS Code(s) they wish to be awarded under? A17: No. However, you do need indicate which set of contract awards you wish to be considered, i.e. small business or unrestricted. Q18: Is this solicitation a recompetition of an existing contract, or a totally new procurement? A18: This procurement can be aligned in scope with a set of 5 national IDIQ contracts that GSA awarded six years ago. However, this solicitation is more specific in emphasizing required specialty areas of expertise and in its emphasis to commissioning. The maximum ordering limitations of the unrestricted contracts are also higher than were provided earlier. And, the division of awards between small business and unrestricted awards is new. Q19: For Section F, how many projects can be submitted under this section. Is it 10 projects for the Prime and a 10 projects for each of the subconsultants? Or is it 10 TOTAL projects for the entire team? A19: It can be 10 projects for each involved firm, if you wish. Just make sure that the pictures represented are cleanly characterized as to which firm is associated with the involved project. Q20: Would one be penalized for using the facing page within the SF 330 form to add project photos? 20: No. Q21: We are a full service Construction Management Firm that provides Commissioning Services and we have revenues less than the NACS code 233320 small biz standard of $28.5 million annual revenues. Can we lead a team as a prime contractor and be a small business set aside? A21: Yes, as long as other team members who are associated with the three key services are also small business. Large business firms may be a subcontractor to the 4 small business set-aside contracts only if providing specialized consulting support, such as for blast/risk analysis, geotechnical engineering, etc. Q22: In addition to 6 copies of the Form 330, Parts 1 and 2, is there any additional documentation that is required at this time? In other words, do we need to submit information to address evaluation criteria I through IV? A22: You need to respond to the solicitation, using Form 330, and you need to address all evaluation factors. Example documentation of work completed is not required and not wanted in the first phase of selection. Q23: Do I understand correctly that 4 of the contracts will be awarded to most likely multi-office firms that qualify as Small Businesses and then these 4 firms will compete for the many individual Task Orders that will represent the actual work to be performed under the contracts? A23: At this time, 8 contract awards are anticipated: 4 for small business and 4 unrestricted. When these IDIQ contracts are awarded, should the involved Government Contracting Officer determine that a proposed work order should be competed, then technical qualifications of proposed team members from similar IDIQ contracts can be the basis of selecting which will be assigned the work order. There are reasons why a Government Contracting Officer may decide to only go to a single IDIQ contractor – such as continuation of work, avoiding minimum order limitations, etc. – but it is up to the involved Contracting Officer to make that call. Q24: May a large business submit as a single entity Prime; as a joint venture partner with another large business; AND as a subconsultant to a Small Business and be eligible for contract award under ANY AND ALL scenarios without exclusion? A24: A large business firm may not be part of a small business IDIQ contract team if that large business will function in providing the three indicated key service areas: Project Development, Commissioning, and Construction Management. A large business may be a small business consultant only if providing specialty services, e.g. blast resistance, geotechnical engineering, diagnostics testing, etc. A firm, either large or small business, may align itself with other competing contract entities, subject to the paragraph above. The Government does not limit such alliances. Aside: It is sometimes the case that prime firms want all their involved joint-venture/consultant firms to sign “exclusivity agreements,” to better their marketing approach, but this has nothing to do with the Government’s interests. Q25: If a large business is considering submitting in Joint Venture with another large business, does GSA want a combined SF330 or one SF330 for each company? The joint venture in this scenario is not an established legal entity. A25: Submit a single SF 330, indicating the contract relationships that exists between all parties. An entity must be recognized as having a legal basis to represent all parties involved. Q26: Please clarify Evaluation Factor III-Professional Qualifications. It is incomplete in the solicitation. A26: The solicitation should read…Factor III: Professional Qualifications (Total: 20%). (A) Does the proposed team commit the relevant key individuals in each discipline area with the professional qualifications in understanding state of the art technologies, necessary for this contract? (10%); (B) Does the proposed team commit the relevant key individuals in each discipline area with the experience in understanding state of the art technologies, necessary for this contract? (10%) The first sub-evaluation factor addresses knowledge, while the second addresses experience. While fundamentally related, this structure allows additional credit for those teams who have been actively involved in providing involved services and achieving program goals, vs. those who know what is involved but have little experience. Q27: Does GSA want specific small, small disadvantaged and small women-owned business concerns identified with individual SF330 documentation or is our track record of their participation in our past performance all that is required to maximize point qualifications under Factor II. A27: If you are talking about indicating past use of small, small disadvantaged and small women-owned business, then your track record is sufficient. If you are incorporating such firms into the mix of professional service providers, then you need to address each firm’s qualifications – relating to the evaluation factors. Q28: Can a large firm qualify as a prime for one of the unrestricted contract awards, while also supporting a Small Business set-aside as a specialty subcontractor? A28: A large business firm may not be part of a small business IDIQ contract team if that large business functions in providing the three indicated key services: Project Development, Commissioning, and Construction Management. A large business may be a small business consultant if providing specialty services, e.g. blast resistance, geotechnical engineering, diagnostics testing, etc. Q29: If a Joint Venture team is formed, should the team submit one SF330 that combines qualifications for both firms? A29: Submit a single SF 330, indicating the contract relationships that exists between all parties. An entity must be recognized as having a legal basis to represent all parties involved. Q30: Does GSA have a preference in presenting IDIQ projects listed under Section F (for example, one IDIQ contract description containing multiple task orders, a single project from an IDIQ contract, or some combination thereof)? A30: Your choice. Q31: For the SF330 Part I, will there be a page limitation, particularly for Section H? A31: Complete the SF 330 completely, but avoid padding it with other document materials/excerpts, or text that only adds bulk. Q32: Will firms selected to enter into contract negotiations for all eight IDIQ contracts be notified at the same time? A32: Yes, i.e. within a day or two of each other. Q33: If a small business falls within NAICS 233320 ($27.5M), but not within NAICS 541618, can the small business still submit as the prime contractor? A33: Only under “Full and Open Competition.” The requirement is for Commissioning and Expert Professional Services. NAICS code 541618 is the prime NAICS code; therefore, contractors who wish to submit proposals for the “Small Business Set-aside” contracts must average $6M for annual gross receipts. Q34: For a Joint Venture of SBE firms that submit for the SBE “Set-Aside” contract(s), does the $6MM revenue limit [defining an SBE firm] apply to the COLLECTIVE revenue of ALL of the member firms of the Joint Venture, or simply to EACH of the SBE firm JV members? A34: The $6M applies to ALL of the SBs average annual gross receipts combined. If your Joint Venture exceeds $6M, you will not qualify for an award under the small business set-aside contracts. You must submit your proposal under “Full and Open Competition”. Q35: Can you tell me if there will be a published list with contacts of interested parties for the Commissioning and Planning Solicitation (GS-00P-05-CY-0156)? If not, is the list of respondents available from the sources sought notice (GS-00P-05-CY-0091A)? A35: No. The interested parties lists are not available to the public. NOTE: THIS NOTICE WAS NOT POSTED TO WWW.FEDBIZOPPS.GOV ON THE DATE INDICATED IN THE NOTICE ITSELF (29-JUL-2005); HOWEVER, IT DID APPEAR IN THE FEDBIZOPPS FTP FEED ON THIS DATE. PLEASE CONTACT fbo.support@gsa.gov REGARDING THIS ISSUE.
Web Link: Link to FedBizOpps document.
(http://www.eps.gov/spg/GSA/PBS/PHA/GS-00P-05-CY-0156/listing.html)
Place of Performance: Address: Washington, DC; Zip Code: 20405
Record: SN00858533-F 20050731/050729213351 (fbodaily.com)
Source: FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
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C -- COMMISSIONING AND EXPERT PROFESSIONAL SERVICES