400 7th Street, SW | Washington | DC 20590 w w w . d o t . g o v

MARAD Virtual Office of Acquisitions (VOA) NS Savannah Proposal

May 24, 2006

Agenda

Overview

Process

Screens

Schedule

Tips

Questions

Overview

VOA– Web based proposal submission tool– Allows offerors and MARAD personnel ability to work from anywhere with internet

access– Geographically disparate teams can collaborate on a proposal– Electronic data backed up on a daily basis– Immediate feedback that MARAD has received your submission– Ability to post questions for MARAD response – Access to program specific documentation

Minimum System Requirements– Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher– Adobe Acrobat Reader Version 6.0 or higher– JavaScript must be enabled– Java applets must be enabled– Cookies must be enabled

Process

Register in VOA – https://voa.marad.dot.gov/ under the Account section

Join the Bidders’ Mailing List for the NS Savannah Opportunity which is located under the NS Savannah link in the Opportunity section

My Proposal section will be available for input only after submission of Bidders’ Mailing List information

Input information for the various sections as they become active– Past Performance– Technical– Representations & Certifications– Pricing

There will be data from Standard Form 1449 which will be input on the My Proposals page, but submitted separately due to the amendment verification

Save your information often as you input

Once you have verified the proposal is complete, submit the proposal by the June 12th 2:00 PM Washington DC time deadline

Screens – VOA Home

VOA Home is located at https://voa.marad.dot.gov

Screens – VOA Registration

You must register in order to obtain a VOA User ID. VOA registration is located in the Account section. You will use this ID throughout the

submission process.

Screens – NS Savannah Bidder’s Mailing List

In order to begin proposal submission, you must register on the Bidders’ Mailing List. The following slides will show you the

information you will need to complete registration.

Screens – NS Savannah Bidder’s Mailing List (#2)

Information necessary includes: DUNS Number, Business Type, NAICS Code, Primary Country, City, and States affected by project

and the Primary Congressional District

Screens – NS Savannah Bidder’s Mailing List (#3)

Information necessary includes: Alternate Point of Contact, Last Name, First Name, Phone Number and e-Mail address

Screens – NS Savannah Bidder’s Mailing List (Conf.)

A confirmation page will display once you submit the bidder’s mailing list information.

Screens – My Proposal

The My Proposal page will eventually contain all of the pieces of you proposal. The status will be “Blank” prior to entry of data,

“Unacceptable” if it does not pass validation, “Incomplete” as you save and have not filled in all data, and “Submitted/Validated” when

you successfully validate and then do a final submit.

Screens – Factor 1 - Past Performance

Past Performance contains the questions related to the section and the questionnaire to download for your references.

Screens – Factor 1 - Past Performance (Q-1 & Q-2)

Past Performance Q-1 & Q-2 will display the following pop-up box to be filled in if you answer “yes” to the question.

*********Please remember to have your Internet Explorer pop-up control turned off for this section.

Screens – Factor 1 - Past Performance (Q-3 & Q-4)

Past Performance Q-3 & Q-4 will display the following pop-up box to be filled in if you answer “yes” to the question.

*********Please remember to have your Internet Explorer pop-up control turned off for this section.

Screens – Factor 2 – Technical/Management

Technical/Management is split into sub factors. Each sub factor has either fill-in text fields, upload attachments functionality or a

combination of the two. This is Sub Factor A.

Screens – Factor 2 – Technical/Management

Sub Factor B

Screens – Factor 2 – Technical/Management

Sub Factor C

Screens – Factor 2 – Technical/Management

Sub Factor D

Screens – Factor 2 – Technical/Management

Sub Factor E

Screens – Factor 2 – Technical/Management

Sub Factor F

Screens – Factor 2 – Technical/Management

Sub Factor G

Screens – Factor 2 – Technical/Management

The Attachments tab contains an area where you may upload two additional documents for your proposal.

Screens – Factor 3 – Pricing

The price proposal will require set-up of your labor categories and rates. In addition, you will need to enter an escalation rate for future

option years. VOA will calculate the rates past the base year.

Screens – Factor 3 – Pricing

Once you have completed the Price setup, you may input the Base year pricing by choosing the labor category from the drop-down list and inputting the number of hours. The total will be calculated for

you and a new line will appear for another labor category.

Screens – Factor 3 – Pricing

Once you input all of the pricing years, there will be a summary page where you can check your input. Your estimated hours must equal to

or less than the total maximum hours.

Screens – Representations and Certifications

Representations and Certifications contain links to the documents which are mandatory. Please download the documents, fill them out,

save them to your PC and upload them to the appropriate section.

Screens – Representations and Certifications

The Affidavit of United States Citizenship requires notarization. Please have the document notarized and scan the document into PDF

format prior to uploading.

Screens – SF 1449

VOA will capture certain fields from the Standard Form 1449. This section will also be used to acknowledge amendments to the RFP. When this section opens, you will input the basic field and submit.

After each amendment comes out, you will be required to acknowledge and re-submit.

Screens – My Proposal

Once you have completed Representations and Certifications, Past Performance, Technical and Pricing, you must validate each section. Once you have completed that successfully, the Submit Proposal will

become active and you can Submit the entire proposal. Once you Submit the proposal, it is locked from changes, so be sure the

proposal is completed to your satisfaction.

Schedule

Sections will become active on the dates listed– Tuesday, May 30th – Past Performance– Wednesday, June 1st – Technical– Wednesday, June 1st – Representations & Certification– Tuesday, June 5th - Pricing– Tuesday, June 5th – SF1449

MARAD System Maintenance window is on June 10th and may affect your ability to use VOA during the day. Please plan accordingly.

Proposal is due June 12th 2:00 PM Washington DC time

DO NOT WAIT UNTIL 1:59 PM ON JUNE 12TH TO ATTEMPT PROPOSAL SUBMISSION! PROPOSALS NOT SUBMITTED ON TIME WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

Tips

Craft your proposal using MS Word first and then cut and paste your responses into the proposal

Save often as there is a 20 minute time-out with the application

Start the proposal on VOA as early as possible in case of any questions or issues

Use a PC with a high speed connection for the best results

Attempt to keep your documents as small in size as possible. Large image files will take a long time to upload to the system.

The system will only accept files with the following extensions:– .doc(MS Word)– .xls (MS Excel)– .mpp (MS Project)– .ppt (MS PowerPoint)– .pdf (Adobe PDF)

Submit your proposal with ample time to spare prior to deadline

Proposals will not be accepted or evaluated in hardcopy format

Please call the DOT helpdesk if you encounter technical difficulties at 1-866-466-5221

Questions

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