By Steve Delahunty
Polaris Updates: HUBZone and SDVOSB pools bids require extension by Amendment, due Nov 18 via the Polaris Submission Portal (PSP). If the bidder does not respond they will not be eligible for award.
- For WOSB pool bids there is a forthcoming pricing amendment due out in November.
- A Small Business pool update providing one (1) set of additional Q&A has been posted. The Small Business pool updated bids are still due 10/31/2023.
Joint Ventures (JVs). As a heads-up, firms that bid via a JV need to check their JV’s SAM.gov listing to ensure that it is not expiring. If that is expiring teams must update the SAM.gov listing to extend the entity registration.
HUBZone and SDVOSB bid extension amendments are due by Nov 18. HUBZone and SDVOSB amendments for pricing will come in November. See information further down in this update.
I recommend bidders in those pools upload those soon understanding there is no need to wait. Instructions are below. The amendments to complete for these bid pools are on the Polaris Submission Portal (PSP) in a Classifications tab (https://polaris.app.cloud.gov).
There has been no big update on WOSB except to expect a pricing amendment in November.
Small Business Question & Response #7 was released through the “Clarifications” tab of the Polaris portal. The due date for response to Amendments 0009 and 0010 remains unchanged with Small Business Pool proposal revisions required to be submitted within the PSP no later than 4:00 PM ET, October 31, 2023. Failure to respond to the amendment by the due date will deem the offeror ineligible for an award.
Synopsis on the new Q&A:
Q369: Response to Small Business Amendment 0009 and Amendment 0010 must be submitted as a proposal revision, not via the Clarifications tab. On Amendment 0009 and 0010, a reminder to complete blocks 8, 15A, 15B, and 15C. Then you upload those signed-completed SF30 into the Submission Documents tab (at the Dashboard level for the bid). Your submission must be retracted for modifications and resubmitted prior to the deadline. Instructions for this are in this How to Modify Your Polaris Submission (link). Only certain portal users have the necessarily administrative privileges to do the Modify option, to even see it, so if you can’t see the Modify option you don’t have the right administrative privileges. Recommend that you should even copy what you have for Amendment 0008 into there. Those all go into the proposal (Dashboard level) itself under Submission Documents.
Q370: Size will be determined as of the date of initial offer.
Q371: JV eligibility does not expire. GSA has consulted with SBA on this matter and SBA views it as reasonable that the exception to affiliation for joint venture members would apply if the initial offer was within the two-year period from the JV’s first award.
Q372: Proposal revisions are limited to proposal elements GSA has identified as being materially impacted by the amendment. For example for Mentor Protégé Joint Ventures or for the Pricing. All projects must meet the requirements as of the original proposal due date (October 7, 2022) and will be evaluated based on the criteria met as of the original proposal due date.
Q373: Just explains that the cost/price template is editable for Direct Labor rates and Indirect Rates.
Requirement to extend pool bids by 1yr for HUBZone Amendment 0004 and SDVOSB Amendment 0003 bids for 1yr by signing/completing the amendment and uploading to the Classification bid section of the Polaris portal. For Small Business and WOSB, their Amendment 0008 (already due) was to extend bids by 1yr as posted previously. Small Business Amendment 0009 (Pricing, MP/JV Update) and 0010 (Q&A) were posted only for Small Business and are due by 10/31. Amendments for Pricing for WOSB and HUBZone and SDOVSB will be coming in November.
Some overviews/excerpts from the SAM.gov and PSP postings are below:
WOSB: No amendment requesting revised proposals has been released yet for the Polaris WOSB Pool. GSA plans to release this amendment to existing Offerors in November 2023. See other notes on Q&A above.
HUBZone: Amendment due Nov 18. RFP 47QTCB22R0006 Amendment 0004 (complete blocks 8, 15A, 15B, 15C) for the HUBZone Pool has been posted in the Polaris portal (PSP). This amendment is to extend the offer acceptance period for existing offerors. Offerors should login to the PSP and review for necessary action. Submit the Amendment via the “Clarifications” tab of the portal. The previously noted amendment to incorporate submission of a price proposal as well as adjustment to the evaluation requirements specific to protégé firms and HUBZone joint ventures is planned for a separate release in November 2023.
SDVOSB: Amendment due Nov 18. This is the same as for HUBZone but this is RFP 47QTCB22R0007 Amendment 0003 (complete blocks 8, 15A, 15B, 15C). Submit the Amendment via the “Clarifications” tab of the portal. The previously noted amendment to incorporate submission of a price proposal as well as adjustment to the evaluation requirements specific to protégé firms and SDVOSB joint ventures is planned for a separate release in November 2023.
Links to the SAM.gov updates:
Small Business: https://sam.gov/opp/cad70d8ecfcf42bead886acd31efce4a/view
WOSB https://sam.gov/opp/6ad2d58876694c76b3b43825db386698/view
HUBZone https://sam.gov/opp/340defabf09040b4ac94c425fb5587d4/view
SDVOSB https://sam.gov/opp/61bb37a88d254886883a49074dbd71aa/view
About Steve Delahunty
Steve Delahunty is a senior leader with 15 years of executive experience in technology and management consulting and over 30 years in the information technology field including a combination of commercial and federal sector consulting services expertise. He is Chief Executive at Arcetyp LLC providing oversight of consulting services and engagement management across the firm’s client base. Arcetyp LLC (ARC) provides growth consulting services to businesses in the US government contracting industry.
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