C1DA--EHRM Infrastructure Upgrade Design Brockton (VA-22-00020290)

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THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR STANDARD FORM (SF) 330'S ARCHITECT-ENGINEER QUALIFICATION PACKAGES ONLY. ALL INFORMATION NEEDED TO SUBMIT SF 330 DOCUMENTS IS CONTAINED HEREIN. NO SOLICITATION PACKAGE, TECHNICAL INFORMATION, OR BIDDER/PLAN HOLDER LIST WILL BE ISSUED. 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.

1. GENERAL INFORMATION:
Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Program Contracting Activity Central (PCAC) is seeking sources and intends to award a firm-fixed price design contract for Architect-Engineering (A-E) services for the development of complete construction documents, which include working drawings, specifications, reports and construction period services for Project #523A5-22-700 EHRM Infrastructure Upgrades - Brockton project located at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Boston Healthcare System (VA BHS), Brockton Campus, 940 Belmont Street, Brockton, MA.

The A-E shall provide complete drawings, specifications, cost estimates, construction schedules, project phasing associated with the upgrade, environmental compliance, site investigations, site visits, and project management necessary to provide EHRM Infrastructure Upgrades.

The A-E Services contract that is anticipated to be awarded will be procured in accordance with the Selection of Architects and Engineers Statute [formerly known as the Brooks Architect Engineer Act], Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 36.6 Architectural and Engineering Services, VA Acquisition Regulation 836.6, and VA Acquisition Manual M836.6 Architect-Engineer Services. In accordance with FAR 36.209, Construction Contracts with Architect-Engineer Firms, no contract for the construction of a project shall be awarded to the firm that designed the project or its subsidiaries or affiliates, except with the approval of the head of the agency or authorized representative

2. PROJECT INFORMATION
This project is a 100% Set-Aside for Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) concerns. The NAICS Code for this procurement is 541330 Engineering Services and the annual small business size standard is $25.5M. A full design team is required to complete this project. The award is projected to be made in July 2023.
The anticipated period of performance for completion of design is 365 calendar days after notice of award. The VAAR magnitude of construction for this project is $20M - $50M.
3. A-E SELECTION PROCESS:
Firms submitting SF 330 s in response to this announcement, not later than the closing date and time specified herein and in accordance with submission requirements, will be considered for evaluation. The selection will be made as follows:
SF 330s will be evaluated in accordance with the primary selection criteria as stated in this presolicitation notice. These evaluations will determine the most highly qualified firms for this particular requirement. In accordance with FAR 36.602-3-(c), at least three (3) of the most highly qualified firms will then be notified of the Government s intent to hold discussions. All firms not invited to participate in discussions will be notified at this time.

Discussions will be held with the most highly qualified firms in the form determined to be most advantageous and economical by the contracting officer. This may include written responses or Microsoft Teams phone interview presentations. However, the form of discussions will be the same for all firms. The firms invited to participate in discussions will be notified by email and provided further instructions, to include any questions or topics to address. Following the completion of discussions, the firms will be evaluated and ranked for selection based on the primary and secondary selection criteria (if necessary), and the most highly qualified firm will be selected and subsequently sent the solicitation. The final evaluation and ranking will consider the SF330 submission for each firm, as well as additional information obtained via discussions.

A site visit will be authorized for the highest rated firm during the negotiation process. An award will be made as long as the negotiation of rates and hours leads to a fair and reasonable determination of the final contract price. If negotiations are not successful with the highest rated firm, the firm will be notified that negotiations have been terminated. Negotiations will then be initiated with the next highest rated firm, and so on until award can be made.
4. SELECTION CRITERIA:
Firms responding to this notice will be evaluated and ranked using the primary and secondary selection criteria listed below. The factors are listed in descending order of importance. The evaluation will consider how each factor is addressed and how it is formatted to coincide with the selection criteria.
Primary Selection Criteria:

Professional qualifications (sections C through E) necessary for satisfactory performance of required service. The A-E shall demonstrate that they are able to sign and stamp each drawing by individuals licensed in any state in the United States for the key positions listed below. Provide Professional License numbers and/or proof of Licensure.

The evaluation shall consider the specific experience (minimum of five (5) years) and qualifications (i.e., education, training, registration, certifications, overall relevant experience, and longevity with the firm as full-time employees) of personnel proposed for assignment to the project, and their record of working together as a team when evaluating professional qualifications. The lead designer in each discipline must be registered but does not have to be registered in the particular state where the project is located.

Key positions and disciplines required for this project include, but are not limited, to:

Architect (LEED certified),
Registered Communications Distribution Designer (RCDD)
Cost Estimator
Civil Engineer
Electrical Engineer
Environmental Engineer
Fire Protection Engineer
Industrial Hygienist
Mechanical/HVAC Engineer
Plumbing Engineer
Project Manager
Quality Assurance
Structural Engineer
Commissioning Agent
Physical Security Specialists
Geotechnical
Interior Design
Life Safety and Code Compliance
Historical Preservation Activities

Offer must include the following statement of SDVOSB compliance when submitting the personnel proposed to perform the work under this requirement:

I [signatory authority]______________________, [company] __________________, certify that the SDVOSB prime contractor will not pay more than 50% of the amount paid by the government to the prime for contract performance to firms that are not VIP-listed SDVOSBs in compliance of VA Acquisition Regulation (VAAR) 852.219-75.

The information provided in Sections C through E of the SF 330 will be used to evaluate this evaluation factor. Do not include this information in Section H, unless it is pertinent to support the information listed in the other sections.

Specialized experience and technical competence (sections F, G, and H) in the design and construction period services shall be provided for network infrastructure installation, renovations, or upgrades. Projects experience should include utility service upgrades/modifications, utility interconnections and space renovations/reconfigurations required to provide a TIER 3 Main Computer Room (MCR). (A TIER 3 MCR is defined as a data center that can perform repairs without any notable service disruption and/or it is a data center that offers an N+1 availability.) Project experience should include providing racks for servers and all fiber/conduit/cables needed to make the system fully operational, phased construction as appropriate to maintain uninterrupted information technology (IT) operation throughout the project. The replacement MCR will be specifically designed to be able to support Very High Density (VHD) equipment power densities using air cooling, rather than rear-door heat exchangers (RDHx) systems. The VA estimates eight (8) full cabinets rated at up to 15kW each to account for future system growth. To ensure successful implementation and continuing headroom in constraining systems, significant technical and phasing details will require additional development, primarily by the impacted facility program elements and supporting IT service line elements. Other specialized experience to demonstrate in projects includes experience in critical path scheduling, fire protection, construction infection control protocols, energy conservation, transition, and sustainable and federal energy reduction design practices.

Include a minimum of three (3) and no more than five (5) Government and private experience projects similar in size scope and complexity, and experience with the type of projects/competence above.

Section G will used to evaluate the prior experience of the prime firm and any key subcontractors working together on the provided relevant projects.

The evaluation will also consider narratives addressing the following topics in Section H. Simply re-stating this list in Section H will not be sufficient. The narrative of how the firm addresses each of these will be evaluated.
Management approach
Coordination of disciplines and subcontractors
Quality control procedures, and
Familiarity with VA Design Guides/Manuals, Master Specifications, and other applicable standards.

Capacity (section H) to accomplish work in the required time. The evaluation will consider this firm s ability to meet the compressed schedule of the overall project, as well as the available capacity of key disciplines to perform the work in the required time. Provide the available capacity of key disciplines by providing current project workload, inclusive of all projects awarded by the VA during the previous 12 months and the full potential value of any current indefinite delivery contracts. Offeror shall clearly state their available capacity presenting workload percentages and expected completion date for the VA projects awarded in the previous 12 months. The information for this factor shall be provided in Section H of the SF 330. Please ensure the capacity applies toward the team/personnel provided in the SF 330.

Past performance (section H) on contracts with Government agencies and private industry in terms of cost control, quality of work, and compliance with performance schedules. The past performance will be evaluated for all projects provided in Section F to include a review of Contractor Performance Assessment Rating System (CPARS) or Past Performance Questionnaire (PPQ) if there is no CPARS data available.

The following information is required for each project noted in Section F:
Contract/Task Order number
Project title
Prime firm name
Start date
Completion date
CPARS or PPQ attached for the project

Evaluations may also include additional performance related from the firm, customer inquiries, Government databases, publicly available sources, and additional projects in CPARS. Evaluations will consider superior performance ratings on recently completed projects as well as the reputation and standing of the firm and its principal officials with respect to professional performance, general management, cooperativeness. If appropriate, the record of significant claims against the firm because of improper or incomplete architectural and engineering services may be evaluated.

Failure to provide requested data, accessible points of contact, or valid phone numbers could result in a firm being considered less qualified. All projects provided in the SF 330 must be completed by the office/branch/individual team member performing the work under this contract. The information for this factor shall be provided in Section H of the SF 330.

For PPQs, please utilize the attached PPQ document. Completed PPQs should be incorporated into the SF 330 directly. PPQs should not be submitted to the VHA PCAC directly. The CPARS reports and PPQs will not be counted towards the page limitations for this submission. However, any narratives provided for past performance in Section H will be counted toward the page limit.

Knowledge of the locality (section H) to include specific knowledge of certain local conditions or project site features, such as geological features, climatic conditions, working with and local construction methods or local laws and regulations. The information for this factor shall be provided in Section H of the SF 330. Note that the intent of this factor is to showcase a firm s understanding of the site and locality, and not where the firm is located and how they would travel to the site. Information related to the firm s location, shall be provided in Section H, under Secondary Selection Criteria Factor 1.

Experience in construction period services (section H) to include:
Professional field inspections during the construction period
Review of construction submittals
Coordination with project commissioning requirements
Support in answering requests for information during the construction period
Support of construction contract changes to include drafting statements of work and cost estimates
Attendance at weekly conference calls
Providing minutes of meeting between the A-E, VA, and Contractors
Pre-final inspection site visits
Generation of punch-list reports, and
Production of as-built documentation.

The information for this factor shall be provided in Section H of the SF 330.

Secondary Selection Criterion*:
Geographic location. Location of the firm, as measured by the driving distance (miles) between the Offeror s principal business location and the:

Department of Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System (VA BHS)
Brockton Campus
940 Belmont Street
Brockton, Massachusetts

Determination of the mileage will be based on Google Maps (https://www.google.com/maps/dir/).
* The secondary selection criterion is used as a tiebreaker, if necessary, in ranking the most highly qualified firms following the completion of discussions. The secondary selection criterion will not be applied when determining a firm s SF 330 submission.

5. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:
The below information contains the instructions and format that shall be followed for the submission of the SF 330, Statement of Qualifications:
Submission Contents
Firms are required to submit two documents:
One SF330, Architect/Engineer Qualifications, and any attachments as a PDF on the SF330 form (form is available on-line at http://www.cfm.va.gov/contract/ae.asp).

One separate document containing the following information:
Cage code
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI)
Tax ID Number
E-mail address(es) and Phone number(s) of the Primary Point(s) of Contact
Address of firm for correspondence
A copy of the firm s VetCert/Vendor Information Pages registration and verification

Format of Submissions
The page limitation of the SF330 PDF submission shall not exceed a total of 40 pages. This includes cover letters, title pages, section divider pages, table of contents, etc. Every page in the PDF will count toward this page limit except the CPARS reports/PPQs and Part II of the SF330. Each page shall be in in Arial size 12 font, single spaced. Any pages in excess of the 40 pages that are not exempt will be removed and will not be evaluated.

Submit ONE (1) SF 330, Statement of Qualifications and any attachments, and ONE (1) accompanying document containing the above SDVOSB information, via email to both the Contract Specialist Kymberly.Morgan@va.gov and to the Contracting Officer Maria Rodeffer@va.gov.

The subject line of the email shall read: SF 330 Submission - 36C77623R0081 EHRM Infrastructure Upgrades - Brockton

The SF 330 PDF shall be submitted in one email and file size shall be no larger than 5 MB. No hard copies will be accepted. Firms not providing the required information may not be evaluated. All information must be included in the SF 330 submission package.

Technical Questions
All questions shall be submitted to Kymberly.Morgan@va.gov and
Maria Rodeffer@va.gov with the subject line SF330 Question - EHRM Infrastructure Upgrades Brockton. The cutoff for question submission is 1:00 PM ET on March 24, 2023. Questions will be answered through a modification to the Pre-Solicitation Notice posted to Contracting Opportunities at SAM.gov.

Submission Due Dates
All responses are due via email on or before April 10, 2023, at 1:00 PM Eastern Time.

NOTE: SF 330 submissions received after the date and time specified will not be considered. Late proposal rules per FAR 15.208 will be followed for late submittals. All emails must be received by the VA email server by 1:00 PM ET. The time will NOT be based on when firms hit Send . DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE TO SEND SUBMISSIONS. Errors in email address spelling or attempts at emailing timely will not recover a late submission.

Other Information
All prime firms must meet the NAICS code requirement specified in this notice. The Contracting Officer shall verify the NAICS code in VetCert through the Small Business Administration (SBA) and/or the System for Award Management (SAM). Failure to meet the NAICS code requirement may result in the rejection of the SF330 submission.

Reminder: This procurement is a 100% set-aside for SDVOSB concerns. Offers received from other than SDVOSB concerns will not be considered. All SDVOSBs must be listed as verified by the SBA Veteran Small Business Certification (VetCert). Offerors must be verified and visible in the SBA VetCert database (Veteran Small Business Certification (sba.gov)) at TIME OF SUBMISSION OF SF330 s, WRITTEN RESPONSES AND TIME OF AWARD. Failure to be BOTH visible and verified at the time of SF330s, Written Responses and time of award will result in the offeror being deemed unacceptable and ineligible for award.

NOTE: As of January 1, 2023, all SDVOSBs that were previously verified by the VA Center for Verification and Evaluation (CVE) are automatically granted certification by the SBA for the remainder of the firm s eligibility period. The SBA intends to grant a one-time, one-year extension of certification to current SDVOSBs verified by the VA as of the transfer date on January 1, 2023. This additional year will be added to the existing eligibility period of a current participant. New applicants certified by SBA after January 1, 2023, will receive the standard three-year certification period. The NDAA 2021 grants a one-year grace period for self-certified SDVOSBs until January 1, 2024. During the grace period, self-certified businesses have one year to file an application for SDVOSB certification and may continue to rely on their self-certification to compete for non-VA SDVOSB set-aside contracts. Self-certified SDVOSBs that apply before January 1, 2024, will maintain their eligibility through the expiration of the grace period until SBA issues a final eligibility decision.
All Joint Ventures must be SBA verified at time of submission and submit agreements that comply with 13CFR 125.15 prior to contract award.

It is the offeror s responsibility to check the Contract Opportunities website at: https://www.sam.gov/ for any revisions to this announcement prior to submission of SF 330s.

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