MODIFICATION
X -- Broker Services NCO 16 to include Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida, Missouri, Texas, and outlying areas.
- Notice Date
- 2/11/2019
- Notice Type
- Modification
- NAICS
- 531210
— Offices of Real Estate Agents and Brokers
- Contracting Office
- Department of Veterans Affairs;Southeast Louisiana Veterans HCS;1515 Poydras Street;New Orleans LA 70112
- ZIP Code
- 70112
- Solicitation Number
- 36C25619Q0083
- Response Due
- 2/22/2019
- Archive Date
- 5/23/2019
- Point of Contact
- New Orleans, La 70112
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total Small Business
- Description
- AMENDMENT A0004-----36C25619Q0083---CLOSING DATE REMAINS 2/22/2019 4:00 CENTRAL STANDARD TIME- THERE WILL BE NO MORE SUBMITTING QUESTIONS. THIS PROCUREMENT INVOLVES NO LAND ACQUISITION PLEASE USE THE SF 1449 FOR YOUR PRICING CHANGES TO LEASE SIZES Lease Sizes Small <10,000 NSUF Medium Between 10,000 to 30,000 NSUF Large Over 30,000 to 100,000 NSUF Update to Past Performance Questionnaire- Limited to 5 questionnaires maximum with one 1 page explanation of adverse past performance. Question: What is the volume expected? Answer: What can only be provided is the number of states that are listed in the RFQ. Question: How many leases were written in the last 12 months? Answer: Due to VA Privacy Act and the Federal Acquisition Regulations this information is not open to the public. Question: Please give details per State and square feet. Answer: The table above shows what the VA has determined. The RFQ includes states--Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida, Missouri, Texas, and outlying areas. Many of the leases pre-award, post-award were written from Real Property Washington, DC. The square feet is not available at this time. Question: Is this solicitation about finding leases for the government or leasing government buildings out or both? Answer: Please seen Scope within the announcement. The contractor shall support NCO 16, contracting staff, and other VA personnel, as needed in the acquisition of leasehold interests and other leasing actions, build-to-suite, oversight of construction, due diligence activities, and related real estate services. The Contractor shall bring forward a team consisting of a) A Prime Contractor registered under NAICS 531210 -- Offices of Real Estate Agents and Brokers. Amendment A0002 changed the NAICS to 531210. The Prime Contractor will be responsible for procuring other subject-matter experts on a project-by-project basis to fulfill due diligence requirements. Question: Do you have staffing requirements? Key personnel requirements? Answer: Please read A0003 page 6 regarding the staffing plan and the key personnel requirements. Question: Can my office be virtual or does it need to be in one location? Answer: Please read the Combined Synopsis/Solicitation Notice regarding the Scope page 6. This is a 'non-personal services contract' as defined in FAR 37.101. It is therefore understood and agreed that the Contractors and their employees: (1) shall perform the services specified herein as independent Contractors, not as employees of the Government; (2) shall be responsible for their own management and administration of the work required and bare sole responsibility for complying with any and all technical, schedule, or financial requirements or constraints attendant to the performance of the contract Question: What is the anticipated staffing needed for this solicitation? Answer: Review A0003 page 6 Staffing plan Contractors must comply with personnel qualification requirements including certification, experience, conflict of interest, nondisclosure, and clearances, stated within this PWS. Performance of contract services requires expertise in both commercial real estate practices and Federal procurement regulations related to Federal lease and build-to-suit acquisitions. Federal lease acquisitions are required to be performed in compliance with Federal lease acquisition regulations, Federal lease law, and applicable Executive Orders, and other procurement regulations, policy directives and processes listed in Exhibit 1 or referenced in this Request for Quote. For all TOs issued in support of the contract, the Contractor will be expected to sign a Conflict of Interest and Non-Disclosure Form, regardless of project type. Contractors will provide due diligence services and other leasing acquisition support services for lease facilities. (See Modules 1 to3). The Contractor s key personnel and project management staff are required to attend initial training determined by the PM and the CO for the implementation of this contract. Initial training will be held in person at The New Orleans Office. Meetings will be determined at a later date. See Amendment A0001 Training. Task Order assigned would determine whether virtual or work that would require the Broker to be physically at the facility. Question: Can I have a key personnel in each State? Answer: This is a 'non-personal services contract' as defined in FAR 37.101. It is therefore understood and agreed that the Contractors and their employees: (1) shall perform the services specified herein as independent Contractors, not as employees of the Government; (2) shall be responsible for their own management and administration of the work required and bare sole responsibility for complying with any and all technical, schedule, or financial requirements or constraints attendant to the performance of the contract; (3) shall be free from supervision or control by any Government employee, but (4) shall, pursuant to the Government's right and obligation to inspect, accept, or reject the work, comply with such general direction of the CO, or the duly authorized representative(s) thereof as necessary to ensure accomplishment of contract objectives. Question: What was the previous contract pricing? Answer: Due to VA Privacy Act and the Federal Acquisition Regulations this information is not open to the public. Question: Paragraph 7 of the Solicitation states that questions are due 4:00 PM February 6th; however, Page 3 of Amendment 3 states the due date for questions is February 19th. Please reconcile. If February 19th, this only leaves three (3) days for VA to answer questions and for Offerors to modify their proposals accordingly. We recommend VA maintain the due date of February 6th or extend the proposal due date to provide VA adequate time to answer questions and Offerors to respond to answers. Answer: No further questions are accepted. The closing date remains 2/22/2019. Question: Period of Performance states each IDIQ contract awarded will have a maximum value of $1,500,000. What is VA s projected portfolio to be supported? Considering that VA is only considering three (3) contractors, $1,500,000 is likely inadequate to support the necessary funding for the full Period of Performance. Recommend the IDIQ maximum value be $10,000,000 per awardee. Answer: These amounts were based on market research and direction from Central Office Washington, DC. Values will remain Min value $1,000,000 and Max value $1,500,000.00. Approximately 3 brokers. Question: Paragraph 4.a.i. states Task Order for this Contract shall not exceed $1,500,000. This is an appropriate Task Order ceiling; however, the total IDIQ maximum value must be increased to accommodate awardees being able to support more than one project. Answer: The total IDIQ maximum value is the not to exceed amount - $1,500,000.00. Field work as prescribed by Real Property has a limit on the not to exceed IDIQ maximum. Question: Recommend the definition be revised to include (vi) lump sum payments to pay for tenant improvements. As the broker manages these requirements development and inclusion of this price analysis in proposal evaluation and negotiations, we recommend that it be a component of the aggregate lease value. Answer: a. Aggregate Lease Value Defined as the fully serviced annual rent to be paid by VA for the firm term of the lease for purposes of calculating the Contractor s commission. The firm term and application of commissions are defined within this subject RFQ for each leasing project. The Aggregate Lease Value shall include (i) the initial fully serviced annual rent to be paid by VA on all space leased by VA, including base rent, base operating costs, and base real estate taxes, and (ii) any fixed annual or other periodic annual rent step changes (either increases or decreases) and/or fixed annual or other periodic rent escalations. The Aggregate Lease Value shall not include (iii) any rental abatement provided to VA pursuant to the Lease; (iv) any annual rental escalations covering operating expense and/or real estate tax increases during the lease term, (v) any additional amounts paid by VA for services over and above those furnished by Lessor as a part of the Lease (i.e., any amounts paid by VA in lump sum), (vi) lump sum payments to pay for tenant improvements, and Commissions will not be collected on option periods or for lease terms beyond the firm term of the lease. The VA has no rights from General Services Administration (GSA) to change, alter, or revise any definitions or terminology used in any document. Question: Does VA intend for Offeror s pricing to include progress reports, TI pricing, inspections, change order preparation, review of wage rates ? These services were removed from the same PWS, awarded by the Office of Real Property as they are not germane to the activities of the NAICS code and are handled by VA s SREs and/or contract staff. Support of these services would greatly increase the commission costs. For brokers to include these costs, they would be factored into a commission percentage, which is applied to the aggregate lease value, which has great variance project to project. In addition to that, this also means developers must factor in these additional costs into their pro-forma pricing for the commission, which is an additional layer of cost to VA. Recommend these services, if desired to be managed by awardees, to be added to the Module 3 services, and quoted on a firm-fixed price basis at the Task Order level. Answer: These tasks are not included and will not be added to pricing. Services with the PWS table are the tasks to be used as Deliverables. Please read these tasks and the Inherently Governmental g. page 8 as some actions cannot be delegated. These items are the responsibility of the Government. Question: Section 9 includes mandatory/annual VA-directed training. However, it fails to require performance-focused training, typical of this scope. Considering the complexity of the PWS, we recommend NCO 16 observe the same training requirements as VA s Office of Real Property, which contractors perform identical services. Ensuring (2) contractor personnel maintain this training mitigates significant risk for VA. This includes: In order to be able to bid on task orders, a minimum of two individuals proposed as a part of the team, which is directly responsible for the management of the assigned tasks will have Lease Acquisition Training, Cost and Price Analysis for Leases, Real Property Lease Law, Techniques in Negotiating Federal Real Property Leases, Best Value Trade-Offs, and Fundamentals of Appraisal Course. Answer: At this time these trainings are not offered to the contractors. The Contracting Officer retains sole discretion to allow these performance-focused trainings. Trainings such as these are e based on work load considerations. The COR will host these meetings and will be the point of contact for coordination for the meetings. Question: Teaming arrangement information and SAM Registration are listed under (1) Pricing section. Please confirm that this information is to be included in Offeror s price proposals as applicable. Answer: Teaming arrangement information and SAMS Registration are NOT to be included as items for the Price Section. Please provide this information after the SF 1449 on a separate page. Also provide original signatures within the SF 1449. Question: Please confirm that font size in tables and graphics can be smaller than 12-pt Answer:.Yes 10- 12-pt.is allowable. Question: Please confirm that a Cover Page and/or Cover Letter are excluded from the page limitations for each Volume. Answer: The Cover page and or Cover letter is excluded from the page limitations. Question: Because VA is requiring bookmarking, please confirm that a Table of Contents is excluded from the page limitations for each Volume. Answer: The Table of Contents is excluded from the page limitations. Question: Considering the VA s unique real property acquisition requirements, in addition to GSA regulations, recommend that the lease acquisition experience be a minimum of (3) VA completed lease projects versus federal government leases. This will mitigate significant risk for VA in understanding and streamlining the process and ensuring strict compliance. Answer: The Experience Requirements remains the same- no change. However, the NSUF is at least 10,000. Question: Considering the long VA procurement life-cycle for land acquisitions, and substantial due diligence to validate usability, recommend VA increase the time period for relevancy to seven (7) years. Answer: Land acquisition are not required. Question: Please confirm that VA considers management of closing for land acquisitions and/or negotiation/execution of options to purchase as an equivalency of the land acquisition experience requirement. Answer: Land acquisition are not required. Question: 3.a states that Offerors must provide resumes for key personnel. Additionally, if resumes are to be included in the staffing plan, recommend that resumes be limited to 2-pages each and be excluded from the Section 3-page limitations, otherwise this will limit the amount of staff proposed and/or the quality of the narratives to address the breadth of Section 3. Answer: Management and Organization, Operational Approach, and Staffing shall remain a total of 6 pages maximum. A0003 page 6 Question: As the PPQ does not include a section to describe project relevancy, does VA require any past performance profile or descriptions in the Technical Volume, or is the requirement only for the PPQs?. If there is some summary information required in the technical volume, please provide the page count limitation. If added, please confirm this is excluded from the page limitations. Answer: The answer is No.The technical Evaluation Factors remains as is (i) Technical Evaluation Factors page 5 of A0003. Also, what has been Removed in the Technical Evaluation Factors is at least three (3) completed federal land acquisitions projects in the past five (5) years.. This procurement does not require any Land Acquisitions. Within 2) Past Performance, please refer to the Past Performance Questionnaire. The Technical Evaluation Factors, The Quality of Services, Cost Control, and Timeliness --the total number of pages maximum is 6 pages maximum. Remains in the page limitations. In referencing the Past Performance Questionnaire--- Limited to 5 questionnaires maximum with one 1 page explanation of adverse past performance. Question: Recommend VA require a minimum of five (5) PPQs, for VA-specific Module 1 lease acquisition experience. Answer: In referencing the Past Performance Questionnaire--- Limited to 5 questionnaires maximum with one 1 page explanation of adverse past performance. Question: Page 29 states: All technical non-priced factors when combined are significantly more important than price. Page 31 states: Technical and past performance, when combined, are equal when compared to price. Please reconcile or provide Offerors with the rating value of Management and Organization, Operational Approach, and Staffing factor. Recommend that all technical non-priced factors when combined are significantly more important than price. Answer: Technical and past performance, when combined, are equal when compared to price, has been removed. However, within 52.212-2 All technical non-priced factors when combined are significantly more important than price, but, as proposals become more equal in their technical merit, the evaluated price becomes the determining factor. The Government may make trade-offs between price and technical merit when determining if the increased technical merit is worth the increased price. This factor shall remain. Management and Organization, Operational Approach, and Staffing factors are included as Technical non-price factors. Question: Staffing Plan states: Accessible and available personnel for on-site meetings during construction within 24-hours notice One, we recommend these post-award construction management requirements be removed from the Module 1 services requirements. Two, this requirement is overly broad and restrictive from a pricing standpoint, given the geographic span of the PWS s scope. Having Offerors consider this requirement would significantly increase price to VA. Answer: Remember Lease acquisition procedures and regulations vary depending on the complexity of an acquisition. See A0003 Module 1 is within the Combined Synopsis Solicitation. No change remains the same. Question: In accordance with E.4, can VA describe how eligible SDVOSBs will receive full credit? Socio-Economic status is not included in Paragraph E.2 Evaluation Factors. Is it VA s intent to consider the merits of SDVOSBs/VOSBs? Answer: No Full credit to any socio-economic group will be given regarding any evaluation factors. Question: Page 5 of Amendment 003, describes minimum experience on Land Acquisitions; however, there are no support requirements for Land Acquisitions in the Performance Work Statement (PWS). Module 1 is for lease acquisitions (with corresponding pricing for NUSF of space, not acreage), Module 2 for due diligence services, and Module 3 for various other services, which do not include Land Acquisition support. Answer: Land Acquisition is removed. Question: Recommend that this experience requirement be removed as it is not germane to the contract s PWS. However, if these services are required, we recommend VA add this as a Module and request corresponding pricing, similar to Module 1, within the SF 1449. Answer: To reiterate, Land Acquisition is removed from this procurement. Land Acquisition is removed. SCOPE The contractor shall support NCO 16, contracting staff, and other VA personnel, as needed in the acquisition of leasehold interests and other leasing actions, build-to-suite, oversight of construction, due diligence activities, and related real estate services. The Contractor shall bring forward a team consisting of a) A Prime Contractor registered under NAICS 531210 -- Offices of Real Estate Agents and Contractors. Brokers. Amendment A0002 changed the NAICS to 531210. The Prime Contractor will be responsible for procuring other subject-matter experts on a project-by-project basis to fulfill due diligence requirements. We wanted to reach out to you regarding the pricing section. Per the RLP, the below is the factors to utilize in the price proposal which is the maximum that can be requested as to commissions: Small: under 30,000 NUSF Medium: 30,000 99,000 NUSF Large: 100,000 NUSF or more 2. We have found in our working these transactions that there are a number of factors which would influence the appropriate commission rate such as: 1. TERM: Normally the leases out of VACO are 15-20 years. NCO leases usually are 10 years. The pricing would be different depending on the longer term; 2. TYPE: There are a variety of Task Order Assignments which would influence the appropriate commission: a. Full and Open replacing facility b. Succeeding Lease c. Succeeding Lease with Expansion d. Lease Renewal 3. Fee deal commission: Currently we have found that the National Cemetery Administration is the only VA entity purchasing property. Since experience in purchase transactions are a part of the Prior Experience technical capabilities, it must be important part of this RLP. We feel that Commission Structure on Purchase is different than that of a lease transaction. Question: The Pricing section does not make provision for alternatives which is understandable for evaluation purposes so how do you feel the above noted items should be addressed in the response? Answer: The Lease Acquisition for Commission base Year Option Year 1,2,3, and 4 have all changed. Please read below. In addition, please read the Introduction and it states. Award of this contract does not preclude the Government from continuing contracts for similar services and will not preclude the Government from awarding additional contracts for similar services in the future, in the event VA determines additional contracts are necessary. Lease Sizes Small <10,000 NSUF Medium Between 10,000 to 30,000 NSUF Large Over 30,000 to 100,000 NSUF Question: In reference to the Broker Services NCO 16 RFQ, is the required experience with federal government leases of at least 15,000 Net Usable Square Feet (NUSF) per project? This is a high threshold for most small business concerns. Answer: Due to the lease sizes have changed, in addition the technical evaluations factors under (i) 1) Experience has changed from at least 15,000 NUSF to at least 10,000 NSUF. Question: Per amendments 2 and 3, all questions are due NLT 12:00 Noon CST February 19, 2019 and offers are due NLT 12:00 Noon CST February 22, 2019. Can the questions due date or offers due date be revised to allow ample time (more than 3 days) for the VA to respond and the offerors to submit their quotes? Answer: The submitting of questions has expired. The closing date remains 2/22/2019. Question: Introduction: This section states that award will be made to approximately three Contractors. In the event three Contractors cannot meet the minimum requirement is it possible VA will award to less than three Contractors. Answer: Due to the large amount of states, 3 is approximate and it remains. Question: Introduction: A maximum contract value of $1,500,000.00 for five years of potential services is too low. This has the potential to limit the availability of preferred contractors during the option years. Recommend changing the maximum contract value to $7,500,000.00. Answer: The min and max remain as is MINIMUM VALUE: $1,000.00 per awardee MAXIMUM VALUE: $1,500,000.00 per awardee Lease Sizes Small <10,000 NSUF Medium Between 10,000 to 30,000 NSUF Large Over 30,000 to 100,000 NSUF Question: Page 6 Scope: Does VA foresee brokers submitting revised pricing for each task order or will this only occur for projects above the simplified acquisition threshold (SAT). Federal acquisition regulations allow for direct task order issuance under the simplified acquisition threshold ($250,000.00), this will ultimately save time and resources allowing VA to have lease projects to market faster. Recommend adding language that allows VA to issue direct task orders under the SAT. Answer: There is no guarantee the Contractor will be awarded any additional Task Orders for project that may arise in the same geographic location at the Market Data services being performed. Offerors are advised that the commission rates proposed will set the not to exceed cap for that contract. The contractor will not be able to propose higher commissions in the future, on any applicable task under this contract. The contractor may, however, offer reduced rates on a task order basis at their discretion. The assumption of one project in each category per year is utilized for evaluation purposes only. Nothing within this section should be construed as a promise nor guarantee of future workload. Question: Page 8 Definitions and Terminology: As currently defined Aggregate Lease Value does not include lump sum payments for tenant improvements. Does this apply to all tenant improvements to be paid in lump sum or just those above the TI Allowance outlined in the RLP/Lease. The TI Allowance outlined in the RLP/Lease, whether amortized or paid in lump sum, is a known number and part of the total lease value for the Lessor. As such we believe this should be included as part of the Aggregate Lease Value for purposes of calculating the commission. Answer: Aggregate Lease Value Defined as the fully serviced annual rent to be paid by VA for the firm term of the lease for purposes of calculating the Contractor s commission. The firm term and application of commissions are defined within this subject RFQ for each leasing project. The Aggregate Lease Value shall include (i) the initial fully serviced annual rent to be paid by VA on all space leased by VA, including base rent, base operating costs, and base real estate taxes, and (ii) any fixed annual or other periodic annual rent step changes (either increases or decreases) and/or fixed annual or other periodic rent escalations. The Aggregate Lease Value shall not include (iii) any rental abatement provided to VA pursuant to the Lease; (iv) any annual rental escalations covering operating expense and/or real estate tax increases during the lease term, (v) any additional amounts paid by VA for services over and above those furnished by Lessor as a part of the Lease (i.e., any amounts paid by VA in lump sum), (vi) lump sum payments to pay for tenant improvements, and Commissions will not be collected on option periods or for lease terms beyond the firm term of the lease. Question: Page 22 Davis-Bacon Act Reporting of Payroll and Basic Record: Please clarify the requirement for assisting the Resident Engineer with Davis-Bacon Act reporting, this is not something that is typically provided under a brokerage contract. Answer: VA will follow the methodology outlined in FAR 52.222-8. Question: Page 26 Training: Please clarify if there are certain minimum requirements for training that the offeror must meet in order to receive an award. Typically broker contracts will require minimum training threshold be met by at least two members of the offerors team. Examples are: Cost and Price Analysis of Lease Proposals, Federal Real Property Lease Law, Lease Acquisition Training, Techniques of Negotiating Federal Real Property Leases, Best Value Source Selection, and Real Estate Appraisal Principles. Answer: Performance of contract services requires expertise in both commercial real estate practices and Federal procurement regulations related to Federal lease and build-to-suit acquisitions. Please see page 5 INTRODUCTION. In addition, each offeror must follow the instructions in regards to the Evaluation Factors. Question: Page 30 Past Performance: How many Past Performance Questionnaire Forms should an offeror submit? Is there a minimum requirement and maximum (not to exceed) figure? Answer: Past Performance -Limited to 5 questionnaires maximum with one 1 page explanation of adverse past performance. Question: Page 30 Experience: The minimum requirement states the Offerors must provide three (3) federal lease projects or medical projects completed in the past five (5) years. We strongly encourage this to be edited so that the minimum requirement states that Offerors must show experience with three (3) VA lease projects over the past five (5) years. Negotiating leases for VA clinical space requires certain experience and expertise that cannot be gained from negotiating leases for other federal agencies. Answer: The Experience remains the same no change. However, the NSUF is at least 10,000. Question: Amendment No. 2 Page 5: Please confirm that all non-priced factors when combined are significantly more important than price as outlined on page 5. Other sections of solicitation seem to be in conflict with this. Answer: Technical and past performance, when combined, are equal when compared to price, has been removed. However, within 52.212-2 All technical non-priced factors when combined are significantly more important than price, but, as proposals become more equal in their technical merit, the evaluated price becomes the determining factor. The Government may make trade-offs between price and technical merit when determining if the increased technical merit is worth the increased price. This factor shall remain. Management and Organization, Operational Approach, and Staffing factors are included as Technical non-price factors. NOTE: THIS NOTICE WAS NOT POSTED TO FEDBIZOPPS ON THE DATE INDICATED IN THE NOTICE ITSELF (11-FEB-2019); HOWEVER, IT DID APPEAR IN THE FEDBIZOPPS FTP FEED ON THIS DATE. PLEASE CONTACT 877-472-3779 or fbo.support@gsa.gov REGARDING THIS ISSUE.
- Web Link
-
Link To Document
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/VA/NOrVAMC/VAMCCO80220/36C25619Q0083/listing.html)
- Record
- SN05218700-F 20190213/190211230031 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |