SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- Newswire Services - Attachment A - Price Schedule - SF - 1449 - Attachment B - Past Performance
- Notice Date
- 8/28/2012
- Notice Type
- Combined Synopsis/Solicitation
- NAICS
- 519110
— News Syndicates
- Contracting Office
- Broadcasting Board of Governors, Director, Office of Contracts, Office of Contracts (M/CON), 330 C Street, SW, Room 4300, Washington, District of Columbia, 20237, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20237
- Solicitation Number
- BBG50-R-12-0023
- Archive Date
- 11/1/2012
- Point of Contact
- Myria Carpenter, Phone: 2023827861, Herman P Shaw, Fax: 202-382-7870
- E-Mail Address
-
mecarpen@bbg.gov, hshaw@bbg.gov
(mecarpen@bbg.gov, hshaw@bbg.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Attachment B - Past Performance SF- 1449 Attachment A - Price Schedule (i)THIS IS A COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION FOR A COMMERCIAL ITEM PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FORMAT IN SUBPART 12.6 AS SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION; PROPOSALS ARE BEING REQUESTED AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE ISSUED. (ii) Solicitation No. BBG50-R-12-0023 is issued as a Request For Proposal (RFP) and a contract will be awarded using the contracting by negotiation procedures in FAR Part 15. (iii) This solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect from the Federal Acquisition Regulations 2005-060, dated August 27, 2012. (iv). The North American Industry Classification Systems (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 517410. (v). The contractor shall provide the Contract Line Items as shown in the uploaded SF 1449. (vi.) The Broadcasting Board of Governors, International Broadcasting Bureau (BBG/IBB), Office of Contracts (CON) and the Voice of America (VOA) located in Washington, D.C. anticipate a need (subject to availability of funding) for a Contractor to provide newswire services in accordance with the following: A.During the term of this contract, the Contractor shall furnish to the Agency, twenty-four (24) hours per day, seven (7) days per week, the news wire services for comprehensive international and US news (including top breaking news), business and financial news, sports (all major sports events worldwide), entertainment and lifestyle, and Washington, DC daily events calendar, from which the Voice of America (VOA) will select the wires it feels most meet the needs of the organization. Contractor shall provide daily schedules and advisories of the top scheduled international and national news events. B.The VOA subscribed wires will constitute a site license for VOA. VOA may use the wires on any of its media platforms, including but not limited to Internet and mobile. C.The contractor shall provide these services by means of lines and equipment for which the Contractor has itemized equipment charges and line charges to be detailed in its proposal response. In addition Contractor shall provide information concerning the lines and/or equipment for which the Contractor has not itemized such charges and which will be furnished by the Agency. Each party shall be responsible for maintaining in proper operating condition the lines and equipment, which it furnishes. D.The contents of the above-described news wire services will be used by VOA for dissemination by its broadcasting services, i.e. radio and television, and other VOA media. The locations of the delivery points include VOA Washington, DC, headquarters and any domestic and overseas locations designated by VOA management through the BBG Contracts Office. Should any of the non-Washington DC locations have the capability to access the VOA's newsroom computer system directly and have access to Contractor's wires through it, this would not constitute a reason for an additional license fee. E.Contractor shall provide the names for all of the news wire services that it offers. F.Contractor shall provide to VOA additional print news wires, which are available to its other customers, at a pre-determined discounted rate, so that the VOA has this information should it desire to add any of these wires in the future. G.The Contractor shall provide a primary and a backup delivery system of the supplied print news wires. H.Contractor shall also provide access to subscribed print news wire services via the Internet. I.Contractor shall provide supplied print news wires in a format compatible with VOA's Newsroom Computer Management System, which is accessed by VOA broadcasters and other related personnel. J.In the event that the Contractor makes changes in delivery method and/or modifies the structure of or the appearance of textual material delivered under this contract, VOA shall be notified 60 days in advance of the change, given complete details of the changes to determine the full impact of the change, and afforded the opportunity to test out any changes before implementation. Should the notification and coordination and testing not occur, VOA would be credited for a full month of the service costs, and any subsequent monthly costs until the change has been integrated into acceptable form for VOA's technical and computer systems. K.Contractor shall permit the Voice of America to post Contractor's print wire stories directly to VOA's websites, including social media pages maintained by VOA. L.The Contractor also agrees to provide access to its news wire services at any location worldwide where this is technically feasible and at a cost to be mutually agreed upon in each case. M.In the event of failure of Contractor-furnished equipment due to mechanical- and/or other difficulties or defects beyond the control and without the fault of the Contractor, the contractor shall make every reasonable effort to continue the services by whatever means or methods may be available, until the inoperative or defective equipment has been restored to proper operating condition. Requests by the Agency for servicing of the Contractor-furnished equipment shall be honored promptly and any necessary repairs or servicing shall be without additional cost to the Government. N.The Agency will provide space, power, wiring, and supply electrical current necessary for the operation of the equipment. Except for gross negligence, the Agency will not be liable for any loss or damage whatsoever to the Contractor's equipment, including accessories. O.On circuits terminating in Washington, DC, the Contractor agrees to extend its facilities for channeling news services as provided herein to other offices of the Agency in Washington, DC, should such changes be required; provided that the Agency shall reimburse the Contractor for all costs entailed in setting up and/or installing additional- lines and equipment as invoiced by the distribution entity. P.The Contractor in the absence of gross negligence or misconduct shall not be liable for the accuracy of the news furnished, nor shall it be liable for delays, errors, or omissions in the services arising out of causes beyond its control. Q.In the event, the equipment used in connection with the service described herein is moved by the Contractor from its present location at the Agency's request, the Agency will reimburse the Contractor for the amount the Contractor customarily charges other customers under similar circumstances. R.The Agency agrees that in broadcasting or otherwise disseminating the contents of the news services, it will accurately state the substance of the news furnished to it by the Contractor. S.It is mutually agreed that the Contractor shall have the right to make working agreements and exchanges of news wire and radio facilities with, and to sell said news services to, any other party or parties. (vii) The period of performance if for a base period beginning October 1, 2012 through September 30, 2013 with four (4) one (1) year options subject to Agency need and availability of funding. (viii) The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provision FAR 52.212-1 Instruction to Offerors-Commercial Items, applies to this solicitation. FAR provisions and clauses may be obtained from the Internet Web address at: http://acquisition.gov/far/index.html. Interested offerors who are capable of providing these services should submit a proposal identifying capabilities as noted below. The Offerors shall demonstrate the ability and experience in providing the required services. Interested offerors shall submit with their proposal a narrative about how they will provide the services, in addition to listing similar projects with the same or like requirement, with budgetary estimates, and the names, addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses of references that have direct knowledge of the offeror's skills and experience. Offerors responding to this solicitation shall submit the following items to the contracting officer: [1] Narrative and detailed information on the requirement. [2] Detailed information on past performance, including recent (within last 3 years from date of this notice) and relevant contracts for similar services and other references including contract numbers, points of contact with telephone numbers, email addresses and other relevant information. [3] Samples of the Offeror's daily output on a portable device such as a flash drive, or CD or DVD. The sample output will be during a 24 hour period and include samples of international, US, sports, business/financial, entertainment, and lifestyle wires transmitted to customers on Wednesday September 6, 2012. [4] Prices for all of the listed CLIN shall be noted in English and United States dollars on the Price Schedule sheet uploaded with this solicitation. (ix) The Government will award a Commercial Item, Firm-Fixed-Price, contract resulting from this RFP to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the RFP will be most advantageous and provide the best value to the Government, based on price, technical, past performance, and other factors in the solicitation. When combined, technical evaluation factors are significantly more important than cost/price. The following factors listed in order of importance shall be addressed in the technical proposals and shall be used to evaluate proposals: 1) Contractor Qualifications - The Offeror must be a recognized as bona fide international newswire provider, with proven record of accuracy, reliability, and journalistic integrity. The Offeror must have an established reputation in the news media industry for fair, balanced, and comprehensive news coverage of news events, politics, natural events, business/financial, sports, entertainment, and lifestyle. The Offeror must have bureaus in dozens of the major cities around the world. While this solicitation is for textual newswires, offeror's experience in providing video news coverage, photos, and web content will be viewed as further evidence of its reputation and breadth of experience. The Offeror must provide a list of its customer base. The minimum required number of customers is 500. The Offeror must be able to deliver at least 1,000 stories a day. 2) Management Approach - The Offeror must provide a description of the approach that they will take to meet the requirement. 3) Variety in Newswire Services- The Offeror shall provide a listing of its newswire services. 4) Past Performance - The Offeror is required to provide no more than four (4) references from previous customers for same or similar services to the requirement within the last three (3) years of the date of this Solicitation. Offerors shall provide the names of three (3) clients and the following information: (i) client's business name and address, as well as the name, email and telephone number of a contact person at the client's business; (ii) dollar amount of the contract; (iii) current term of the contract; and (iv) brief description of the work performed. The Offeror shall use the form uploaded to the FedBizOpps with this combined synopsis/solicitation entitled "Attachment B - Past Performance References " to provide the information. Pursuant to FAR 15.305(a) (2) (iv), in the case of an Offeror without a record of relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not available, the Offeror will not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance and will be given a neutral rating for Past Performance. 5) a separate Price Proposal showing a breakdown of the price for the above CLINs. Prices for all of the listed CLINs shall be noted in English and United States dollars on form uploaded to the FedBizOpps with this combined synopsis/solicitation entitled "Attachment A - Price Schedule". Offerors are cautioned that failure to address each of the above factors may deem their proposal unacceptable. (x) Offerors shall include a completed copy of the provision FAR 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items with its offer. Proposals must also include contractor's DUNS Number, prompt payment terms, and correct remittance address, if different from mailing address. The contractor must be registered on-line with the System for Award Management (SAM) formerly the CCR Web site at: https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/. The successful Offeror will be required to complete and submit an ACH form, for Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), to the Contracting Officer before submitting their first invoice. (xi) The FAR clause 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition with addendum to the clause. The addendum is as follows: CONTRACTING OFFICER REPRESENTATIVE The Contracting Officer will appoint by letter an Contracting Officer Representative of the (COR), who will have the responsibility of ensuring that the work conforms to the requirements of the contract and such other responsibilities and authorities as may be specified in the letter of authorization or this contract. It is understood and agreed, in particular, that the COR shall not have authority to make changes in the scope or terms and conditions of the contract unless and only to the extent that such authority is specified in the letter of authorization or the contract. THE RESULTANT CONTRACTOR IS HEREBY FOREWARNED THAT, ABSENT THE REQUISITE AUTHORITY OF THE COR TO MAKE ANY SUCH CHANGES, IT MAY BE HELD FULLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY CHANGES NOT AUTHORIZED IN ADVANCE, IN WRITING, BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER, MAY BE DENIED COMPENSATION OR OTHER RELIEF FOR ANY ADDITIONAL WORK PERFORMED THAT IS NOT SO AUTHORIZED, AND MAY ALSO BE REQUIRED, AT NO ADDITIONAL COST TO THE GOVERNMENT, TO TAKE ALL CORRECTIVE ACTION NECESSITATED BY REASON OF THE UNAUTHORIZED CHANGES. (End of Clause) NOTICE OF DELAY In the event the Contractor becomes aware of a potential delay, the Contractor shall immediately notify the Contracting Officer and COR by via email. Such email shall include the nature of the delay and whether it will have any impact (positive or negative) on the Contract. (End of Clause) INVOICE SUBMISSION Invoices are authorized to be submitted quarterly via email submission. Invoices must be marked original and copy and submitted to the COR to be identified at the time of contract award. Note: The Government intends to change its current invoicing procedures to an optical reader system. The contractor may be required in the future to use a standard invoice template. Any costs associated with complying with the invoice change will be at the Contractor's expense. (End of Clause) (xii) FAR clause 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items, applies to this solicitation by reference and proposed subsequent contract as well as the following clauses contained within FAR clause 52.212-5: 52.203-6 Restrictions on Subcontractor Sales to the Government; 52.204-10 Reporting Executive compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards; 52.209-6 Protecting the Government' Interest when Subcontracting with Contractors Debarred, Suspended or proposed for Debarment; 52.209-9 Updates of Publicly available Information Regarding Responsibility Matters; 52.209-10 Prohibition on Contracting with Inverted Domestic Corporations; 52.219-8 Utilization of Small Business Concerns; 52.219-28 Post Award Small Business Program Representation; 52.222-3 Convict Labor; 52.222-19 Child Labor-Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies; 52.222-21 Prohibition of Segregated Facilities; 52.222-26 Equal Opportunity (E.O. 11246); 52.222-35 Equal Opportunity for Veterans (38 U.S.C. 4212); 52.222-36 Affirmative Action for Workers with Disabilities (29 U.S.C. 793); 52.222-37 Employment Reports on Veterans (38 U.S.C. 4212); 52.222-40 Notification of Employee Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act; 52.223-18 Contractor Policy to Ban Text Messaging with Driving; 52.225-13 Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases and 52.232-33 Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer-Central Contractor Registration (31 U.S.C. 3332) (xiii) Additional FAR provisions and clauses incorporated by reference and applicable to this solicitation and the proposed subsequent contract are: 52.232-18 Availability of Funds; 52.227-18 Rights in Data -Existing Works and 52.237-3 Continuity of Services. There are no additional contract requirement(s) necessary for this acquisition other than those consistent with customary commercial practices. (xiv) A Defense Priorities and Allocations System (DPAS) assigned rating is not applicable to this acquisition. (xv) Failure to provide any of the above-required CLIN may result in the rejection of your proposal. Full text of all FAR clauses and provisions are available electronically at the following Internet address: (http://www.arnet.gov/far). Proposals shall be in writing and must be signed by an official who is authorized to bind the organization. Oral, email or faxed proposals will not be accepted. Questions must be submitted in writing to Myria Carpenter at mecarpen@bbg.gov. Written questions must be submitted by 12:00 p.m., Eastern Time on September 05, 2012. Technical proposals shall be submitted with an original and three (3) copies. Price proposals shall be submitted with an original and one (1) copy. Proposals may be sent via courier or overnight delivery before the closing deadline below. Proposals are due to Myria Carpenter, Contract Specialist, Broadcasting Board of Governors, International Broadcasting Bureau, Office of Contracts, 330 C Street, SW, Room 4007B, Washington, DC 20237 before 12:00 p.m., Eastern Time on September 12, 2012. (xvi) Contact: Myria Carpenter, Contract Specialist, email: mecarpen@bbg.gov or Facsimile 202-382-7870. All responsible sources may submit an offer that will be considered by the Agency.
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