Inactive Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) Set-Aside (FAR 19.14)

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. THE GOVERNMENT WILL NOT PAY NOR REIMBURSE ANY COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH RESPONDING TO THIS REQUEST. THE GOVERNMENT IS UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO AWARD A CONTRA... THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. THE GOVERNMENT WILL NOT PAY NOR REIMBURSE ANY COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH RESPONDING TO THIS REQUEST. THE GOVERNMENT IS UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO AWARD A CONTRACT AS A RESULT OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. The Department of Veterans Affairs is seeking a qualified Architect-Engineering (AE) firm to provide a complete site workplan, investigation, analysis and all other related information for Project 620A4-21 207 at the Castle Point VA Medical Center, 41 Castle Point Road, Wappingers Falls, NY 12590. This requirement is being procured in accordance with the Brooks Act as implemented in FAR Subpart 36.6. Applicable NAICS code is 541330 and small business size standard of $16.5 Million. This is a 100% Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Set Aside. The anticipated award date of the proposed A-E Contract is on or before September 30, 2020 Potential contractors must be registered in SAM (www.sam.gov ) and visible/certified in Vet Biz (https://www.vip.vetbiz.va.gov ) at time of submission of their qualifications in order to be considered for an award. As a prospective offeror or bidder for this Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) set aside, you are verifying your company meets the status requirements of a SDVOSB concern as established by VAAR 852.219-10 NOTE - Offerors are referred to 852.219-11 (d)(1) Services. In the case of a contract for services (except construction), it will not pay more than 50% of the amount paid by the government to it to firms that are not VIP-listed SDVOSBs. In order to assure compliance with this clause, all firms submitting a SF330 for this Sources Sought Notice are required to indicate what percentage of the cost of contract performance will be expended by the concerns employees and in which discipline(s) and percentage of cost of contract performance to be expended (and in what disciplines) by any other subcontracted or otherwise used small or large business entity(s). Any subcontracted or otherwise business entity(s) used must be identified by name, office location and size/type of business (i.e. SDVOSB, VOSB, 8(a), large, etc). SCOPE OF SERVICE REQUIRED PROJECT NO. 620A4-21-207, Complete Site Workplan, Investigation, and Analysis at the Castle Point VAMC in accordance with the attached Statement of Work. LOCATION Castle Point VA Medical Center. TYPE OF CONTRACT CONTEMPLATED The Department of Veterans Affairs is contemplating awarding a firm fixed price contract. ESTIMATED START AND COMPLETION DATES The Department of Veterans Affairs requires design and contract support services. The estimated start and end dates for the design and start and end dates for the construction are as follows: ITEM DATE Receive Notice to Proceed from (NTP) TBD Draft Site Characterization Work Plan 40 Calendar Days from NTP Submit Characterization Plan for Review by NYDEC 55 calendar days from NTP Finalize Site Characterization Work Plan 80 calendar days from NTP Final Characterization Plan Review by NYDEC 95 calendar days from NTP Implement Site Characterization Work Plan 135 calendar days from NTP Draft Final Site Characterization Report 155 calendar days from NTP Submit Site Characterization to NYDEC for Review 170 calendar days from NTP Final Report to VA with NYDEC Comments 180 calendar days from NTP Deliver Final Documents 180 calendar days from NTP The A/E shall perform the work required within the limits of the following schedule. Professional architects, engineers and related design disciplines familiar with the work shall be provided, as directed by the Contracting Officer, to attend the VA reviews. Construction: Number of calendar days to complete construction is to be determined by the AE firm after the design is complete. SELECTION CRITERIA The Department of Veterans Affairs shall evaluate each potential contractor in terms of the following: Selection Criteria Weight Professional qualifications and disciplines of staff proposed for the satisfactory performance of required services. 30% Examples of specialized experience and technical competence in landfill characterization and remediation. 30% Capacity to Accomplish the work in the required time 5% Experience and performance remediation of polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from landfills 30% 5. The extent to which potential contractors identify and commit to the use of service-disabled Veteran-owned small businesses, Veteran-owned small businesses, and other types of small businesses as subcontractors. 5% Total 100% SELECTION CRITERIA DESCRIPTIONS The selection criteria descriptions are provided below. PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS NECESSARY FOR SATISFACTORY PERFORMANCE OF REQUIRED SERVICES. Provide brief resumes of proposed team members who will specifically serve as the Project Managers and Designers of Record. The Designers of Record shall perform and direct the design within their respective discipline and shall sign and seal the drawings. All Designers of Record must be professionally registered in their discipline. Each resume shall include a minimum of two (2) specific completed projects that best illustrate the individual team members experience relevant to this contract scope; SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE AND TECHNICAL COMPETENCE Specialized experience and technical competence required for this specific project, including, where appropriate, experience in energy conservation, pollution prevention, waste reduction, and the use of recovered materials. CAPACITY This factor evaluates the ability of the firm, given their current projected workload and the availability of their key personnel, to accomplish the possible myriad of design projects in the required time. The general workload and staffing capacity of the design office will be evaluated. List current projects with a design fee of greater than $20,000 being designed in the firms office. Indicate the firms present workload and the availability of the project team (including sub-consultants) for the specified contract performance period; Describe experience in successfully delivering projects per performance schedule, providing timely construction support, and successfully completing multiple projects with similar delivery dates PAST PERFORMANCE: VISN2 will evaluate past performance on recent and relevant contracts with government agencies (emphasis on VA work) and private industry in terms of cost control, quality of work, compliance with performance schedules and a record of significant claims against the firm due to improper or incomplete engineering services (references required). Recent is defined as performance occurring within 5 years of the date of this Sources Sought, except that ongoing projects must have begun no less than one (1) year prior to the issuance of this Sources Sought. Relevancy is defined as performance of work on projects that are similar in scope to the types of projects anticipated under the resultant contracts. Respondents with no previous past performance shall state this when addressing the selection criteria. Where there is no record of past performance, the proposal will be evaluated neither favorably nor unfavorably. Superior performance ratings on relevant projects may be considered more favorably in the evaluation. Submission Requirements: Submit a minimal of three (3) references; any of the following evaluations are acceptable: Contractor Performance Assessment Report System (CPARS), or Past Performance Questionnaire (PPQ) evaluation for each project submitted under Criterion 2. If a completed CPARS evaluation is available, it shall be submitted with the completed SF330 package. If there is not a completed CPARS evaluation, the PPQ included with this notice is provided for the Offeror or its team members to submit for each project included in criterion (2). If a PPQ is submitted, but an official CPARS evaluation is found for that project in government databases, the official evaluation will take precedence. If a CPARS evaluation is not available, ensure correct phone numbers and email addresses are provided for each contract customer/reference. Completed PPQs should be submitted with your SF330. If the A-E is unable to obtain a completed PPQ from a contract customer/reference for a project before the response date set forth in this notice, the A-E should complete and submit with their response the first page of the PPQ (Attachment #1), including contract and point of contact information for the respective projects. A-Es should follow-up with references to ensure timely submittal of questionnaires. At the reference s request, questionnaires may be submitted directly to the Governments point of contact, Daniel Barone Attn: Replace Fan Coils Building 18 via email at Daniel.barone@va.gov prior to the response date. A-Es shall not incorporate by references into their response CPARS or PPQ evaluations previously submitted in response to other A-E services procurements. However, this does not preclude the Government from utilizing previously submitted PPQ information in the past performance evaluation. Submitted CPARS and PPQ evaluations will not be counted as part of the 30 page limitation and shall be attached to the SF330, behind the SF330 Part II document. The extent to which potential contractors identify and commit to the use of service-disabled Veteran-owned small businesses, Veteran-owned small businesses, and other types of small businesses as subcontractors. PLEASE NOTE: The AE Evaluation Board must be provided with complete and accurate information for ALL five (5) evaluation factors above in order to rank as qualified and eligible firms. Therefore, the AE firm must expand upon, as it deems necessary, on any evaluation factor not well demonstrated or addressed with Part 1A to Part IG and Part II of the SF330. The AE firm shall use Part IH and/or use additional sheets to supplement/address all evaluation factors to clearly demonstrate its qualifications. LIMITATIONS 852-219-10 VA NOTICE OF TOTAL SERVICE-DISABLED VETERAN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS SET-ASIDE (NOV 2020) (DEVIATION) (a) Definition. For the Department of Veterans Affairs, Service-disabled Veteran-owned small business concern or SDVOSB: (1) Means a small business concern (i) Not less than 51 percent of which is owned by one or more service-disabled Veterans or, in the case of any publicly owned business, not less than 51 percent of the stock of which is owned by one or more service-disabled Veterans or eligible surviving spouses (see VAAR 802.201, Surviving Spouse definition); (ii) The management and daily business operations of which are controlled by one or more service-disabled Veterans (or eligible surviving spouses) or, in the case of a service-disabled Veteran with permanent and severe disability, the spouse or permanent caregiver of such Veteran; (iii) The business meets Federal small business size standards for the applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code identified in the solicitation document; (iv) The business has been verified for ownership and control pursuant to 38 CFR part 74 and is listed in VA s Vendor Information Pages (VIP) database; and (v) The business will comply with VAAR subpart 819.70 and Small Business Administration (SBA) regulations regarding small business size and government contracting programs at 13 CFR part 121 and 125, provided that any reference therein to a service-disabled Veteran-owned small business concern (SDVO SBC), is to be construed to apply to a VA verified and VIP-listed SDVOSB unless otherwise stated in this clause. (2) Service-disabled Veteran means a Veteran, as defined in 38 U.S.C. 101(2), with a disability that is service-connected, as defined in 38 U.S.C. 101(16). (3) The term small business concern has the meaning given that term under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632). (4) The term small business concern owned and controlled by Veterans with service-connected disabilities has the meaning given the term small business concern owned and controlled by service-disabled Veterans under section 3(q)(2) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(q)(2)), except that for a VA contract the firm must be listed in the VIP database (see paragraph (a)(1)(iv) above). (b) General. (1) Offers are solicited only from VIP-listed SDVOSBs. Offers received from entities that are not VIP-listed SDVOSBs at the time of offer shall not be considered. (2) Any award resulting from this solicitation shall be made to a VIP-listed SDVOSB who is eligible at the time of submission of offer(s) and at the time of award. (3) The requirements in this clause apply to any contract, order or subcontract where the firm receives a benefit or preference from its designation as an SDVOSB, including set-asides, sole source awards, and evaluation preferences. (c) Representation. Pursuant to 38 U.S.C. 8127(e), only VIP-listed SDVOSBs are considered eligible to receive award of a resulting contract. By submitting an offer, the prospective contractor represents that it is an eligible SDVOSB as defined in this clause, 38 CFR part 74, and VAAR subpart 819.70. (d) Agreement. When awarded a contract action, including orders under multiple-award contracts, an SDVOSB agrees that in the performance of the contract, the SDVOSB shall comply with requirements in VAAR subpart 819.70 and SBA regulations on small business size and government contracting programs at 13 CFR part 121 and part 125, including the non-manufacturer rule and limitations on subcontracting requirements in 13 CFR 121.406(b) and 125.6. Unless otherwise stated in this clause, a requirement in 13 CFR part 121 and 125 that applies to an SDVO SBC, is to be construed to also apply to a VIP-listed SDVOSB. For the purpose of limitations on subcontracting, only VIP-listed SDVOSBs (including independent contractors) shall be considered eligible and/or similarly situated (i.e., a firm that has the same small business program status as the prime contractor). An otherwise eligible firm further agrees to the following: (1) Services. In the case of a contract for services (except construction), it will not pay more than 50% of the amount paid by the government to it to firms that are not VIP- listed SDVOSBs. (2) Supplies or products. (i) In the case of a contract for supplies or products (other than from a non- manufacturer of such supplies), it will not pay more than 50% of the amount paid by the government to it to firms that are not VIP-listed SDVOSBs. (ii) In the case of a contract for supplies from a non-manufacturer, it will supply the product of a domestic small business manufacturer or processor, unless a waiver as described in 13 CFR 121.406(b)(5) has been granted. (3) General construction. In the case of a contract for general construction, it will not pay more than 85% of the amount paid by the government to it to firms that are not VIP-listed SDVOSBs. (4) Special trade construction contractors. In the case of a contract for special trade contractors, no more than 75% of the amount paid by the government to the prime may be paid to firms that are not VIP-listed SDVOSBs. (5) Subcontracting. An SDVOSB must meet the NAICS size standard assigned by the prime contractor and be listed in VIP to count as similarly situated. Any work that a first tier VIP-listed SDVOSB subcontractor further subcontracts will count towards the percent of subcontract amount that cannot be exceeded. For contracts referenced in (d)(2), (3), and (4) the cost of materials is excluded and are not considered to be subcontracted. When a contract includes both services and supplies, the 50 percent limitation shall apply only to the service portion of the contract. Other direct costs may be excluded to the extent they are not the principal purpose of the acquisition and small businesses do not provide them. For additional information and more specific requirements on the limitations on subcontracting, refer to 13 CFR 125.6. (e) Required limitations on subcontracting compliance measurement period. An SDVOSB shall comply with the limitations on subcontracting as follows: [Contracting Officer check as appropriate.] _____By the end of the base term of the contract or order, and then by the end of each subsequent option period; or _____By the end of the performance period for each order issued under the contract. (f) Joint ventures. A joint venture may be considered eligible as an SDVOSB if the joint venture is listed in VIP and complies with the requirements in 13 CFR 125.18(b), provided that any requirement therein that applies to an SDVO SBC is to be construed to apply to a VIP-listed SDVOSB. A joint venture agrees that, in the performance of the contract, the applicable percentage specified in paragraph (d) of this clause will be performed by the aggregate of the joint venture participants. (g) Precedence. Any inconsistencies between the requirements of the SBA Program for SDVO SBCs, and the VA Veterans First Contracting Program, as defined in VAAR subpart 819.70 and this clause, the VA Veterans First Contracting Program takes precedence. (h) Misrepresentation. Pursuant to 38 USC 8127(g), any business concern, including all its principals, that is determined by VA to have willfully and intentionally misrepresented a company s SDVOSB status is subject to debarment from contracting with the Department for a period of not less than five years (see VAAR 809.406, Debarment). (End of clause) SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS Qualified Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business firms are required to submit only a digital copy of the SF 330. Digital copies shall be emailed to Daniel Barone at Daniel.Barone@va.gov. All packages shall be submitted no later than Wednesday, April 13, 2022 including Past Performance (CPARS) evaluations or Questionnaires (attachment 1). The submission must include an insert detailing the following information: 1. Dun & Bradstreet Number; 2. Tax ID Number; 3. The e-mail address and phone number of the Primary Point of Contact and; 4. A copy of the firms CVE verification The Contracting Officer is not responsible for not receiving submissions due to the offeror misaddressing the package or illegibility of the information. NOTE: Any request for assistance with submission or other procedural matters shall be submitted via email only to Daniel.Barone@va.gov telephone inquiries will not be honored. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. THE GOVERNMENT WILL NOT PAY NOR REIMBURSE ANY COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH RESPONDING TO THIS REQUEST. THE GOVERNMENT IS UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO AWARD A CONTRACT AS A RESULT OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.