Inactive

Amendment 0001: The purpose of this amendment is as follows: 1. Questions received are answered below. There are a total of 4 questions with answers. 2. The solicitation response deadline is revised f... Amendment 0001: The purpose of this amendment is as follows: 1. Questions received are answered below. There are a total of 4 questions with answers. 2. The solicitation response deadline is revised from June 10, 2024 at 11:00 AM ET to June 17, 2024 at 11:00 AM ET. 3. All other terms and conditions remain unchanged. Questions and Answers 1. Question: Is it possible to extend the June 10 deadline for quotation submittal? Answer: Yes. The quotation deadline is extended to June 17, 2024 at 11:00 AM ET. 2. Question: Regarding Volume 1: Technical Response, Item #4 on the completed provision responses – once we complete the highlighted sections, do we need to attach the Applicable Provisions and Clauses form when we submit the RFQ or would you like us to copy and paste those highlighted sections to our 10 page word document? Answer: Please submit with your response completed versions of the provisions with highlighted sections. These will not count against the technical volume page limit. 3. Question: The technical response must be a maximum of 10 pages. Could you please clarify if the key personnel resumes count as part of the 10 pages? Answer: Per page three of the combined synopsis solicitation attachment, key personnel resumes are not included in the technical response page limit. 4. Question:For Volume 2: Price Quotation, what is the requirement format? Should we attach an Excel spreadsheet, or should we incorporate the budget into the Word document? Answer: Per page 5 of the combined synopsis solicitation "Instructions to Quoters" section, quotations shall be submitted in Microsoft Excel format. All figures shall be rounded to the nearest hundredth. The Excel spreadsheet at a minimum shall include the contract line item structure identified in the solicitation (CLIN 1 - Development of a Computational Wind Engineering Pre-Standard in accordance with the attached Statement of Work, CLIN 2 - Travel and a Total), and a proposed firm fixed price payment schedule based on deliverables. To assist the Government in evaluating firm fixed price quotations, the Quoter shall provide a breakdown of the proposed labor per task identified in the Statement of Work. The proposed labor breakdown shall include proposed labor categories and estimated hours per labor category. __________________________ FAR 13 Request for Quotations Development of a Computational Wind Engineering Pre-Standard RFQ No. NIST-RFQ-24-7301456 This is a Combined Synopsis / Solicitation for Commercial Items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6 – Streamlined Procedures for Evaluation and Solicitation of Commercial Items – as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. The solicitation is issued using simplified acquisition procedures under the authority of FAR Part 13. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION. QUOTATIONS ARE BEING REQUESTED AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION DOCUMENT (i.e. STANDARD FORM) WILL NOT BE ISSUED. This solicitation is a Request for Quotation (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2024-04 dated May 1, 2024. The associated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 541330 – Engineering Services. The small business size standard is $25.5 Million. This is an unrestricted solicitation. Both large and small businesses are eligible to respond. DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENTS Background The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Engineering Laboratory (EL) has a long history of research and development and providing innovative solutions in wind engineering for windstorm impact reduction. More recently it has been focusing on developing and applying innovative Computational Wind Engineering (CWE) and Performance-Based Design for Wind (PBWD) methodologies as part of its research roadmap to advance the nation’s measurement science in wind engineering. Specifically, the use of CWE in the built environment has become more common over the past two decades, both in academia and industry. Industry practitioners working in the built environment are more frequently looking to CWE tools to support design. Given the low-cost barrier for entry to CWE and the lack of consistency in modelling approaches, absence of guidance and limited prevalence of peer reviews, there is a growing lack of trust in the industry around the outcomes produced by some forms of CWE. This can be seen through codes and standards around the world (such as the ASCE7-22 and NBCC-20) not permitting the use of CWE for design at present. Thus, currently the results of a CWE study must be verified by running costly wind tunnel experiments to provide validation of the results. The more wide-spread use of CWE in practice is currently limited by the lack of standards to ensure consistency in its use. This is compounded by the limited validation and verification of the results to provide confidence in the use of CWE to produce results that can be used in design. To address the potential for industry adoption of CWE it is critical to assemble a team of experts in CWE across academia and industry, with experience in writing Pre-standards, who can outline the necessary approach to utilization of CWE in building design. During the recent NIST-sponsored workshop for the Advancements of Computational Wind Engineering, the development of this Pre-standard was the No. 1 Priority identified by the participants as being needed to advance CWE into practice. It is envisioned that the Pre-standard for the Use of Computational Wind Engineering in Building Design will provide the technical basis for consistent CWE results by prescribing the required mathematical modeling requirements for the wind flow and building parameters and boundary conditions for the wind-structure interaction. Additionally, the Pre-standard will provide the minimum requirements for monitoring and reporting of the flow conditions in the computational domain. Having these provisions documented and verified from known wind tunnel studies will allow practitioners and CWE users to have confidence in the use of CWE and move this tool into practice. This Pre-standard will be performance-based, not prescriptive. The purpose of this requirement is to obtain contractor support services to convene a group of world-leading experts in CWE, computational model validation and verification techniques, and in developing national standards, for development of the Pre-standard for the Use of CWE in Building Design in the U.S. The Pre-standard will establish provisions which, when adhered to, enable CWE building scale simulations to appropriately simulate wind pressures and wind flows in the built environment, from both a mean and peak perspective. This work will build the trust needed across the community of academia, practitioners, and regulatory agencies to enable CWE to become more widely accepted and relied upon in practice. Objectives The Contractor shall identify and convene a panel of national experts in CWE to form a Project Team and develop a framework and recommended outline for the Pre-standard for Use of CWE in Building Design, including appropriate computational modeling techniques, validation and verification methodologies, selection of boundary conditions, and output requirements. The Pre-standard shall be developed using mandatory language that can be used by academia and design professionals in their practice. The Pre-standard shall address external environmental concerns such as pollutant dispersion and pedestrian comfort and safety as well as large scale numerical weather modelling, such as characterizing the Santa Ana winds. The scope of the work shall cover the basic framework for a ‘building scale model’ where CWE could answer questions around flow conditions, pedestrian wind comfort and safety concerns, and wind pressure loading for a building. Finally, the Pre-standard shall establish the baseline conditions for ensuring that CWE simulations are conducted respecting the physical characteristics of wind, while highlighting provisions around acceptable assumptions and experimental fundamentals that can be used in simulations. Section C below describes the specific tasks necessary to meet the above stated Scope of Work. Scope of Work & Specific Tasks Please see the attached Statement of Work (SOW) details. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE The period of performance shall be two years from date of award. An award in early July 2024 is anticipated. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE The Place of Performance shall be at the Contractor’s work site/place of business. CONTRACT TYPE & PAYMENT TERMS A firm fixed price purchase order is anticipated. Payment will be made on a NET30 basis using milestone payments following inspection and acceptance of individual deliverables. APPLICABLE PROVISIONS AND CLAUSES Please see the attached document for applicable provisions and clauses. QUESTION AND ANSWER PERIOD CAR 1352.215-73 INQUIRIES (APR 2010): Quoters must submit all questions concerning this solicitation in writing electronically to Ms. Lauren Roller, Contract Specialist, at lauren.roller@nist.gov. Questions must be received by or before Friday, May 31, 2024 at 11:00 AM ET. Any responses to questions will be made in writing, without identification of the questioner, and will be included in an amendment to the solicitation. Even if provided in other form, only the question responses included in the amendment to the solicitation will govern performance of the contract. (End of Provision). DUE DATE FOR QUOTATIONS All quotations must be submitted via email to Ms. Lauren Roller, Contract Specialist, at Lauren.Roller@nist.gov. Submission must be received not later than Monday, June 17, 2024 at 11:00 AM ET. Note: Quoters must have an active registration at www.SAM.gov at time of quote submission to be considered for award. Quoters must remain actively registered at time of any potential award in order to receive an award. INSTRUCTIONS TO QUOTERS (Addendum to FAR 52.212-1) The Quoter’s quotation shall be submitted electronically via email and shall consist of two volumes as detailed below. Each quotation volume shall include the Quoter’s name, UEI number, and point of contact information in a cover page, header/footer, or other easily identified location. The Contracting Officer intends to award a purchase order without discussions but reserves the right to enter into discussions if in the best interest of the Government. Volume 1: Technical Response This volume shall contain the Quoter’s technical response. The technical response (not including table of contents, key personnel resumes, or corporate experience information) shall not exceed ten (10) single-spaced, single-sided pages or twenty (20) double-spaced, single sided pages. Text shall be no less than 12-point font in Microsoft Word or searchable Adobe PDF format. Text specifically associated with graphics may differ from this requirement and shall be no less than 9-point font. The technical response shall include the name, title, phone number, and email address of the Quoter’s primary point of contact and the individual authorized to negotiate on behalf of the Quoter (if negotiations are determined to be necessary). The technical response shall include: A narrative of the Quoter’s relevant technical capabilities and the proposed approach to executing the SOW. If subcontractors will be used, the Quoter shall provide the names of the companies or organizations and their expected roles. The resume(s) of the proposed key personnel which demonstrate qualifications and expertise, including years of experience in each role and professional certifications. Quoters shall clearly identify the individual(s) being proposed as key personnel and the positions for which they are proposed. Quoters shall clearly map their proposed candidate(s) to each of the required key personnel position title(s) detailed in the “Key Personnel Requirements” section of the SOW. Corporate experience information to include information on up to three (3) purchase orders or contracts in which the Quoter performed work similar to the scope of this requirement. Corporate experience information provided shall be for work completed or substantially completed within the past five (5) years. Corporate experience shall include the following information: Name of the Organization Supported Contract Number Period of Performance Dollar Value of the Contract Narrative describing the services performed. The narrative should make clear similarities to the scope of work outlined in this solicitation. Completed provision responses, from the provisions attached to this solicitation. Provisions requiring response are highlighted in yellow. A list of assumptions and/or exceptions made in preparing the quotation. Volume 2: Price Quotation This volume shall contain the Quoter’s price quotation in Microsoft Excel format. All figures must be rounded to the nearest hundredth. Price Quotation: Price quotations shall be submitted on a firm fixed price basis in accordance with the contract line item numbering structure provided in this solicitation. Quotations shall be valid for 60 days after solicitation close. To assist the Government in evaluating firm fixed price quotations, the Quoter shall provide a breakdown of the proposed labor per task identified in the Statement of Work. The proposed labor breakdown shall include proposed labor categories and estimated hours per labor category. Quoters shall also include a proposed fixed price payment schedule based on requirement milestones/deliverables in relation to the deliverables table in the SOW. CONTRACT LINE ITEM STRUCTURE: The table below identifies the required contract line item numbering (CLIN) structure for this Solicitation. CLIN Description Total Price 1 Development of a Computational Wind Engineering Pre-Standard in accordance with the attached Statement of Work Firm Fixed Price 2 Travel Not-to-Exceed – Reimbursable per Federal Travel Regulation TOTAL EVALUATION CRITERIA AND BASIS FOR AWARD (Addendum to FAR 52.212-2) The Government intends to award a purchase order resulting from this solicitation to the responsible contractor whose quotation conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous and represents the best value to the Government, price and other factors considered. Best value shall be determined using the trade-off evaluation method. Therefore, the Government may award to other than the lowest priced quote or the highest technically rated quoter. The Government intends to evaluate quotations and issue a purchase order based on the initial quotations received. Therefore, the quoter’s initial quotation should contain the quoter’s best terms from a price and technical standpoint. The Government reserves the right to request revised quotations from, or negotiate final purchase order terms with one or more, but not all, quoters if later determined by the Contracting Officer to be necessary. The Government may reject any or all quotations if the quotation fails to comply with the requirements of this solicitation. The factors identified below will be used to evaluate quotations. Factor A (Technical Factor): Technical Approach Factor B (Technical Factor): Key Personnel Factor C (Technical Factor): Corporate Experience Factor D (Non-Technical Factor): Price Technical / non-price factors are listed in descending order of importance. Technical / non-price factors, when combined, are more important than price. However, price will become more important as the degree of equality among technical non-price evaluations increases. A. Technical Approach The Government will evaluate the quoter’s technical approach and capabilities for performing each task in the SOW. The technical volume will be evaluated for the quoter’s overall understanding of and capability to complete the Government requirements, as well as the expected effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach. B. Key Personnel The Government will evaluate the extent to which the resume(s) submitted for the quoter’s proposed key personnel demonstrate that the proposed individual(s) meet the minimum qualifications detailed in the SOW, and have the appropriate education, qualifications, and experience to efficiently and effectively address requirements in accordance with the Performance Work Statement. C. Corporate Experience The Quoter’s corporate experience will be evaluated to determine the extent to which the quoter has corporate experience relevant to the work described in the SOW. Relevancy will be considered similarity to the current requirement in scope of work, period of performance, and total dollar value. The government will consider corporate experience on efforts completed or substantially completed within the past five (5) years. E. Price Quoted pricing will be evaluated but not scored. Price evaluation will determine whether the quoted price is complete, fair, and reasonable in relation to the RFQ requirements.