SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Diplomatic Pouch and Mail Support Services
- Notice Date
- 2/5/2014
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 492110
— Couriers and Express Delivery Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of State, Office of Acquisitions, Acquisition Management, 1735 N. Lynn St., Arlington, Virginia, 22209, United States
- ZIP Code
- 22209
- Solicitation Number
- SAQMMA14I0009
- Archive Date
- 3/8/2014
- Point of Contact
- Celenne G. Cook, Phone: 7038756278
- E-Mail Address
-
cookcg@state.gov
(cookcg@state.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total Small Business
- Description
- This is a Sources Sought Synopsis, for market research purposes only, and is not a Request for Proposal (RFP). The Department of State's, Office of Acquisition Management on behalf of the Office of Logistics Management is seeking potential sources that are capable of providing a service to perform Diplomatic Pouch and Mail support. All interested firms shall submit a response demonstrating their capabilities to provide the service to the primary point of contact listed below. Should your firm be interested in this requirement, please submit your company's capability package in no more than 15 pages. As stipulated in FAR 15.201, responses to this notice are not considered offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. The decision to solicit for a contract shall be solely within the Government's discretion. Firms responding should indicate whether they are, or are not, a small business, a veteran owned small business, a service disabled veteran owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantage business and woman-owned small business concerns. NAICS Code to be used for this acquisition is 492110 with a size standard of $25M. The Government reserves the right to consider a small business set-aside based upon responses hereto for any subsequent acquisition. Respondents are further requested to indicate their status as a foreign-owned/foreign-controlled firm and any contemplated use of foreign national employees on this effort. Any information submitted by respondents to this sources sought synopsis is voluntary. This sources sought notice is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government, nor will the Government reimburse any costs associated with the submission of information in response to this notice. Respondents will not individually be notified of the results of any government assessments. The Government's evaluation of the capability statements received will factor into whether any forthcoming solicitation will be conducted as a full and open competition or as a set-aside for small businesses, or any particular small business designation (e.g. SDVOSB, HUBZone, SDB, WOSB, VOSB, etc.). Capabilities package: All interested firms should submit a capabilities package that explicitly demonstrates company capabilities-indicating examples of services provided and specifications related to this effort. The capabilities package should include at a minimum: 1. Contractor Name 2. Address 3. Point of Contact (POC) with phone number(s) and e-mail addresses 4. DUNS Number 5. Anticipated teaming arrangements if any (delineate between work accomplished by prime and work accomplished by teaming partners) 6. Provide responses of capabilities to specific work requirements. Diplomatic Pouch and Mail Services DoS A/LM plans to award a performance-based professional services contract for the effort to deliver diplomatic pouch and mail services to its customers and compliment the work of Agency staff. The objectives of this effort and contractor requirements are: • Form a cooperative relationship with a contractor to provide proactive solutions, cross-functional training, and values continuous process improvement. • Provide insight into mail operations and process engineering including a deep understanding of addressing schemes, bar-code technology, mail metering, zip codes and sorting techniques. • Provide receiving, sorting, pouching and handling resources for processing packages and mail to the correct customer in a timely, consistent, secure, undamaged and accountable way at a reasonable cost. • Effectively operate Government developed safety and security screening procedures. • Provide dispatch to Government provided freight forwarders and in the case of classified diplomatic pouch operations, the Diplomatic Courier Service. • Provide efficient integration and utilization of Government provided automated sorting technology over the term of the contract period including letter, flat mail and package sorters and the DoS Integrated Logistics Management System (ILMS), a logistics tracking IT system. • Align workforce to seasonal volume fluctuations, changes due to sorter automation and ILMS development • Adjust quickly to emerging terrorist threats affecting diplomatic pouch and mail activities or facilities Constraints: Security -- The workforce deployed to process classified diplomatic pouches will require Top Secret - Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS-SCI) security clearances for the classified pouch operations. The unclassified pouch and mail operation will require background check, however no clearance is required. As-is conditions: • Current direct labor totals 70+ FTEs in the unclassified pouch operations, supporting the interoffice mail operations and the classified pouch operations. • Current direct labor totals 12 FTEs in the classified pouch operations. • Current letter sorter is a Pitney Bowes Olympus II. A parcel sorter is also used that includes two intakes and two encoding stations enabling bar-coding and scanning of mail to 12 discharge areas where mail is pouched. Specific work requirements: Unclassified Pouch and Mail Processing: Inbound mail is from multiple sources including local DoS annexes, other local ICASS Agencies, USPS and commercial carriers like UPS, FedEx, etc. Mail is processed from the transporting trucks, unloaded, scanned into ILMS, and prepared for further handling. Bulk mail is separated from letters, flat mail and parcels. Threat/hazard Screening is accomplished in specially designed containment rooms in coordination with other contract and Government resources Mail Processing continues after the mail is cleared from screening. Mail is moved to the respective floor areas dedicated to each type of mail processing to effectively sort it by DoS destinations. Each mail type has its own process of handling, sorting, ILMS logging, and staging. Tubs of letter and flat mail are processed with the automatic letter sorter which batches the mail for each destination. Sorted letter mail is wrapped in bundles and the bundle for each Post is then placed in the appropriate bag in the bag rack area. Large bins of flat mail (magazines, periodicals, advertising etc.) are hand sorted into separate bags by destination. Bags containing both flat and letter mail are sealed, tagged, scanned in ILMS in preparation for dispatch with pouches. Parcels are sorted via an automatic parcel sorter and moved to the staging area established for each of 235 DoS worldwide destinations. In the staging area, pouches are loaded, scanning each item as it is entered. Diplomatic pouches are prepared in accordance with the dispatch schedule for freight forwarder pickup. A constant vigilance for prohibited and hazardous items is present. Classified Pouch and Mail Processing Incoming mail is from a variety of ICASS participant agencies and via the DoS mail transportation trucks. Classified deliveries are accounted for in a chain of custody process, receipted, and logged in ILMS database tracking application. They are sorted in the facility specially designed for this purpose. The mail is sorted by destination - a total of over 235 overseas posts. Individual pieces are aggregated into appropriate sized pouches. An invoice is generated for each pouch and placed inside the pouch. The pouches are sealed and tagged and made ready for dispatch to the Diplomatic Courier Service. Period and Place of Performance: The base period of performance will be one year from date of award with four one-year options. The place of performance will be at Government facilities in the metro DC area. An unclassified mail facility is located near the Dulles airport. A classified mail facility is located near Springfield, VA. Scope of Sources Sought: Potential sources must possess the expertise, capability and experience to provide the full range of services identified above and with the immediate required level of staffing. DoS has a unique mail environment and it is of prime importance for sources to clearly understand and differentiate between it and traditional mailroom services. This extends both to handling classified mail but more importantly the volume, type and complexity of international mail. Sources must be able to provide staffing with the necessary experience, qualifications, and ability to assume full operational responsibility after a 30 day period of transition. Sources should submit information clearly demonstrating capability in the following areas: 1) Management approach including corporate strengths, processes, and procedures for managing, organizing, staffing, and ensuring quality mail services against the stated objectives above and with projects of similar size and type; 2) Specific and relevant past performance on same/similar work in size, scope and complexity and include applicable information for description, contract number, dollar value, period of performance, staffing size, and point of contact for verification (include as many relevant projects as applicable for the past five years); 3) Description of technical expertise and approach to provide the full gamut of DPM support including working with the threat of hazardous materials, working within a containment area, accounting for classified mail, accommodating physical handling of pouches weighing up to 70 pounds, handling workload fluctuations that are not predictable, and providing continuous process improvements through such means as use of new technology. Vendor Submission Instructions: Responses may be submitted electronically to the following e-mail address: cookcg@state.gov in a Microsoft Word/Adobe compatible format or mailed to Office of Acquisition Management, PO Box 9115, Rosslyn Station, Arlington, VA 22219 to be received no later than 12:00 noon, Eastern Time, 21 February 2014. Direct all questions concerning this acquisition to Celenne Cook at cookcg@state.gov.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/State/A-LM-AQM/A-LM-AQM/SAQMMA14I0009/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Dulles Airport area and Springfield, Virginia, United States
- Record
- SN03281512-W 20140207/140205234002-a726214861a76a8bc88e0ae1eee11f86 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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