Temporary Administrative and Professional Staffing Services (TAPS) Solicitation 7FCM-N6-03-0736-B (Refresh #18)
SUPPLEMENTAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR CREATING THE
SCHEDULE 736 TECHNICAL AND PRICING PROPOSAL
SCP-FSS-OO2 SPECIFIC PROPOSAL SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS (JUN 2009)
NOTE: Additional requirements to SCP-FSS-002, Specific Proposal Submission Instructions (Dec 2010)(Alternate 1-Dec 2010) located in Document 2, Solicitation.
Added SECTION IV – SKILL DESCRIPTIONS/JOB DESCRIPTIONS
SECTION I – ADMINISTRATIVE/CONTRACT DATA
(12) Small Business Subcontracting Plan - NOT REQUIRED.
SECTION II – TECHNICAL PROPOSAL
FACTOR ONE: CORPORATE EXPERIENCE - No additional requirement.
FACTOR TWO: RELEVANT PROJECT EXPERIENCE - No additional requirement.
FACTOR THREE: PAST PERFORMANCE - No additional requirement.
FACTOR FOUR: QUALITY CONTROL
(vii) The Offeror shall describe the methods used for a.) recruiting, b.) screening, and c.) testing potential temporary employees.
(viii)The Offeror shall describe any background checks performed commercially on their employees or if none are performed, make a statement that it is not the contractors’ normal commercial practice to perform background checks on potential/current employees.
(ix) The Offeror shall describe the methods used to ensure temporary employees are adequately trained and kept up-to-date in their field. Offeror shall make a statement that the same recruitment and retention of workers/training shall be utilized in the performance under this solicitation as shown for their commercial customers or if there are any differences, the offeror shall state exactly what those differences will be.
FACTOR FIVE: INSURANCE
The minimum required insurance for this contract shall be:
a. Workers' compensation and employer liability: Contractors are required to comply with applicable Federal and State workers' compensation and occupational disease statutes.
b. General Liability: Bodily injury liability insurance coverage of at least $500,000 per occurrence.
In accordance with Clause 52.228-5 entitled "Insurance - work on a Government Installation, provide a current copy of the Certificate of Insurance showing the limits covered.
SECTION III – PRICE PROPOSAL
(16)(vii)(A)(4) If price proposal was prepared using Method 1 - Prepare certification statement that the mathematical calculations used in the price proposal under this solicitation mirror’s the offeror’s commercial practices. If price proposal was prepared using Method 3 – Prepare certification statement that the commercial price list provided represents an exact copy of the current published, dated or otherwise identified price list for which commercial sales are based and which is distributed to the public.
Note: If a special commercial price list is prepared specifically for this proposal, but is an extract from the published commercial price list, see Clause 552.212-70 Preparation of Offer, for special certification.
SUPPLEMENTAL PRICE PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS
GSA offers more services and products than any commercial enterprise in the world. Accordingly, the U.S. General Accounting Office has specifically recommended, “the price analysis GSA does to establish the government’s MAS negotiation objective should start with the vest discount given to any of the vendor’s customers.” GSA has a fiduciary responsibility to the American taxpayers and to customer agencies to take full advantage of the government’s leverage in the market in order to obtain the best value for the taxpayer. If GSA is not offered discounts, terms and conditions equal to or better than the Offeror’s most favored customer (the lowest price), a detailed explanation is required.
In order to determine proposed rates as fair and reasonable, Offerors will be required to provide cost information other than certified cost or pricing data. This data will show how the Offeror arrived at the proposed price, e.g. hourly rate + G & A + fee = proposed rate for each labor category. The data may include all direct costs, indirect costs, profit and any other factor that contributes to the proposed total price. A determination that an Offeror’s price is not fair and reasonable may result in the rejection of the offer.
The Price Proposal shall be completely separate from the technical/management proposal and shall contain all information relative to pricing. All services offered and pricing shall be provided using the format contained in this solicitation.
To support the prices proposed, the pricing proposals shall include sufficient information for each service offered to enable the Contracting Officer to perform a price analysis in accordance with FAR 15.406-3. Offerors are required to include a .75% (three quarters of one-percent) Industrial Funding Fee (IFF) as a separate line item in the prices submitted with their offer. (See GSAM Clause 552.238-74, Industrial Funding Fee and Sales Reporting (JUL 2003)). The fee will be included in the award price(s) and reflected in the total amount charged to ordering activities. The IFF is to be shown after the total price is calculated as it is a separate collection mechanism, i.e., Negotiated price divided by (1 minus the IFF rate) (therefore 1 – 0.75% (current IFF rate) = 1 – 0.0075 = 0.9925. The schedule contract award price is calculated as the negotiated price divided by 0.9925 ($1,000/0.99205 = $1,007.56). There will be no exceptions allowed to having the IFF as a separate collection mechanism and must be shown clearly at the end of your calculations.
Costs incurred for transportation and per diem (lodging, meals and incidental expenses) will be billed in accordance with the regulatory implementation of Public Law 99-234, FAR 31.205-46 Travel Costs, and the contractor’s cost accounting system. These costs are directly reimbursable by the ordering agency.
The contractor shall notify the ordering agency, in writing, of the requirement for reimbursement of transportation and per diem expenses, prior to acceptance of the order. This notification shall include a “not to exceed” estimate of these proposed costs. Any applicable indirect costs associated with the transportation and per diem expenses will be charged at a rate negotiated prior to the using agency’s delivery order/task. Contractors shall be reimbursed only for incurred costs at or below the “not to exceed amount.”
Costs for transportation, lodging, meals, and incidental expenses incurred by contractor personnel on official company business are allowable subject to the limitations contained in FAR 31.205-46, Travel Costs.
Reimbursements for costs that are not specified in this solicitation, or in any contract or task order resulting from this solicitation, are not allowed. It is GSA policy NOT to allow a charge of profit or fee on reimbursable items. No reimbursement will be made for a contractor’s local travel (such as mileage to and from a local site).
NO REIMBURSEMENT IS AUTHORIZED EXCEPT AS SPECIFIED IN AN ORDERING AGENCY’S TASK ORDER.
The preferred type of Task order issued against the contract is Firm Fixed-Price. However, Labor-Hour Task orders may be issued where circumstances dictate, as determined by the ordering agency Contracting Officer, provided a determination is made in accordance with FAR 16.601(b) and 16.601(c).
Offerors shall submit priced hourly rates, rather than a range, for each skill category. Under each Special Item Number (SIN) offered, please provide a breakdown of each of the individual skill category(s) and the respective price(s). Offerors may submit on a single SIN or on any combination of SINs. The Contractors shall have the capabilities to perform the full range of all the criteria set forth in the Statement of Work. Offerors must clearly state in their proposal which pricing relates to the specific metropolitan and/or geographical areas being offered.
This contract will be subject to the Service Contract Act and Fair Labor Standards Act. All employees working under non-professional job descriptions must be paid the base wage by location as specified in the wage determination for that location. They must be provided or paid health and welfare benefits. They must receive 10 paid holidays which they will be eligible for from their first day of employment (specific holidays are listed in the wage determination), and they must receive 10 days vacation after one year of service in accordance with the regulations found in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 29, Part 4 entitled Labor Standards for Federal Service Contracts. The web site for the Code of Federal Regulations is http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/cfr-table-search.html.
COURT REPORTING SERVICES OFFERS (including videography associated with these services)
If you are offering Court Reporting and/or related services, please note the following instructions:
a. All Court Reporting and related services should be offered under SIN 736-1. No services or deliverables should be offered under SIN 736-99.
b. If you are offering Court Reporter on an hourly basis, then please follow all the instructions above regarding offering pricing for labor categories covered by the Service Contract Act (SCA).
c. Please note that even if services are not offered on an hourly basis, the Service Contract Act (SCA) still applies, and the offeror is responsible for meeting all applicable requirements of the Wage Determination. Even though GSA will not verify the pricing offered for non-hourly services covers all SCA requirements, this does NOT relieve the offeror of these responsibilities.
d. All Services offered must be capable of being performed by payrolled employees of the firm identified in the offer. This includes both hourly services and any services offered on a unit basis other than hourly (i.e. by the page, etc…). Services performed by persons paid under IRS Form 1099 are NOT considered payrolled employees. Any services (other than ancillary) that cannot be performed by payrolled employees will not be permitted under any resultant contract.
e. For all services offered at unit rates OTHER than hourly (i.e. by page, etc…) the following information must be provided:
1. A commercial price list listing all services including the unit of sale. Please see the instructions for Method 3 below. If services are provided by location, then only ONE price list for the preponderance of work location should be provided and used as the basis for pricing the applicable services in the offer.
2. If both hourly services and services priced at other than hourly rates are offered, then provide a separate CSP-1 form for each type of service offered (i.e. one CSP-1 form for the hourly services, and a separate CSP-1 form for the services offered at other than hourly). For the CSP-1 form for the non-hourly services, follow the instructions for services offered based on Method 3 described below.
3. A description of the services must be provided describing what is included in the service. For example, if services for Deposition by page are offered, provide a short description of what is included, including number and medium of any deliverables.
4. If any services are offered as Ancillary, such as CDs, additional copies, or expedited delivery, these must be clearly identified as ancillary. Ancillary services and deliverables are defined as those deliverables and services that CANNOT be purchased separately, but must be purchased at the same time as primary services. Additionally, the ancillary services and deliverables must be traceable to the primary services they are associated with.
NOTICE OF SERVICES NOT INCLUDED (The following services are not being solicited under solicitation 7FCM-N6-03-0736-B)
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:
Offerors interested in providing computer/software engineering and information technology services are directed to contact GSA’s Group 70 Schedule for Information Technology (IT) for additional information (IT Center Hotline: (703) 605-2700).
MISSION ORIENTED BUSINESS INTEGRATED SERVICES:
Offerors interested in providing services that support business management functions and enable agencies to meet and improve mission performance requirements are directed to contact GSA’s Group 874 Schedule for Mission Oriented Business Integrated Services (MOBIS) for additional information (Telephone: 1-800-241-RAIN (7246). Select “Information on Federal Supply Schedules Programs with the Management Services Center” option. Or Email: ).
HUMAN RESOURCES AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY SERVICES:
Offerors interested in providing human resources services such as EEO, planning, recruitment, internal placement, pre-employment screening, background investigations, position classifications, personnel actions, training, employee assistant, employee relations, outplacement, integration services and workers compensation, etc. are directed to contact GSA’s Group 738X Schedule for Human Resources & Equal Opportunity Services for additional information (Telephone: 212-264-0868).
PROFESSIONAL AND ALLIED HEALTH CARE STAFFING SERVICES:
Offerors interested in providing services for physicians, registered nurses, dentist, nurse practitioner, counseling related services, etc. are directed to contact GSA’s Group 621 I Schedule for Professional and Allied Health Care Staffing Services for additional information (Telephone: 708-786-7722).
PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING SERVICES:
Offerors interested in providing services such as concept development and requirements analysis, system design, integrated logistics support and acquisition and life cycle management, etc, are directed to contact GSA’s Group 871 Schedule for Professional Engineering Services (PES) for additional information (Telephone: 1-800-241-RAIN (7246).
FINANCIAL AND BUSINESS SOLUTIONS (FABS):
Offerors interested in providing services such as program financial advisor, accounting, budgeting, financial management services, audit and financial training, debt collection, professional legal services, audit services, recovery audits, etc. are directed to contact GSA’s Group 520 Schedule for Financial and Business Solutions (FABS) for additional information (Telephone: 703-605-2820).
PRICING FOR ALL SINs MUST BE SUBSTANTIATED BY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING METHODS:
Definition of a Commercial Price List:
For the purposes of this solicitation, a commercial price is a price list which is dated and published. The price list should show all positions and hourly pricing which are available to the general public. Contractors submitting pricing based on a published, dated, commercial price list should be able to provide invoices in support of sales under the commercial price list provided.
METHOD 1: (Preferred Method)
If the offeror does not have a published, dated, commercial price list or use of their published, dated, commercial price list will not allow wages and benefits equal to the requirements of the Department of Labor to be met, the offeror may submit pricing based on the Department of Labor wage determination plus a mark-up percentage for each location(s) offered.
If the wage determination plus a proposed mark-up rate is used, this data should show how the Offeror arrived at the proposed price, e.g., Base Rate + Health and Welfare + Holiday % + Vacation % + Payroll % + Overhead % + Profit % = subtotal (Net GSA Price) + IFF= the proposed Total GSA Bill Rate. The breakout should show all dollar amounts and percentages. The Industrial Funding Fee (IFF) is currently .75%. The IFF is to be shown after the total price is calculated as it is a separate collection mechanism, i.e., Negotiated price divided by (1 minus the IFF rate) (therefore 1 – 0.75% (current IFF rate) = 1 – 0.0075 = 0.9925. The schedule contract award price is calculated as the negotiated price divided by 0.9925 ($1,000/0.99205 = $1,007.56).