SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- Comprehensive International and US Newswire Service - Attachment B - Attachment A - SF 1449
- Notice Date
- 8/18/2015
- Notice Type
- Combined Synopsis/Solicitation
- NAICS
- 519110
— News Syndicates
- Contracting Office
- Broadcasting Board of Governors, Director, Office of Contracts, Office of Contracts (CON), 330 C Street, SW, Room 4300, Washington, District of Columbia, 20237, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20237
- Solicitation Number
- BBG50-R-15-0040
- Archive Date
- 11/2/2015
- Point of Contact
- Seneca B. Belinfontie, Phone: 2022034944, Herman Shaw, Phone: 202-382-7856
- E-Mail Address
-
sbelinfo@voanews.com, hshaw@bbg.gov
(sbelinfo@voanews.com, hshaw@bbg.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- SF 1449 Attachment A Attachment B (i) This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items 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-15-0040 is issued as a Request For Proposal (RFP) for a Firm-Fixed -Price Commercial Item contract that will be awarded using the contracting procedures in FAR Part 13.5 (iii) This solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect from the Federal Acquisition Regulations 2005-83, dated August 3, 2015. (iv) This is a full and open competition. The North American Industry Classification Systems (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 519110. (v) The Contractor shall provide the following Contract Line Item (CLIN): Provide newswire services in accordance with the contract terms and conditions. (vi) The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), subject to the availability of Fiscal Year 2016 funding, requires a Contractor to provide a twenty-four (24) hours per day, seven (7) days per week, news wire service for comprehensive international and U.S. news (including breaking news), business and financial news, sports news (all major sports events worldwide), and entertainment and lifestyle news. The Contractor shall provide daily schedules and advisories of the top scheduled international and national news events. The VOA subscribed wires shall constitute a license to VOA in perpetuity for all provided content. VOA may use the wires across multiple platforms – including but not limited to VOA radio, VOA television and VOA websites and/or sites maintained by VOA, such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and the iTunes store and affiliated distribution, or any other site off the VOA network, mobile and wireless devices, or via any other method of delivery developed now or in the future. See Attachment B entitled “Statement of Work” for more details. (vii) The period of performance is a base period from October 1, 2015 through September 30, 2016, with an option to extend for four (4) additional one-year periods at the discretion of the Government. The subsequent Option Periods and Continuity of Services clause (if exercised) will follow sequentially for a total contract duration not to exceed sixty-three (63) months. (viii) The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provision FAR 52.212-1 Instruction to Offerors-Commercial Items, applies to this solicitation. Full text of all FAR clauses and provisions are available electronically at the following Internet address: (http://www.arnet.gov/far). Interested offerors who are capable of providing a newswire should submit a proposal demonstrating their ability and experience in providing the required services. INTERESTED OFFERORS RESPONDING TO THIS SOLICITATION SHALL SUBMIT THE FOLLOWING ITEMS TO THE CONTRACTING OFFICER: (1) a Technical Proposal which addresses the technical factors described below in (ix) and (2) and a Price Proposal in accordance with (ix). The Price Proposal must contain a copy of the attached Standard Form (SF) 1449 and Attachment A entitled “SUPPLIES AND PRICES/COSTS” which must be filled out by the interested offeror. The Government plans to award without discussions, but may conduct discussions if it deems it is in the Government’s best interest. The decision to hold discussions will be at the sole discretion of the Government. Thus any information an Offeror wishes the Government to consider shall be submitted with the Offeror's written proposal, since discussions may not occur. (ix) The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provision FAR 52.212-2 Evaluation-Commercial Items, applies to this solicitation. The Government intends to award one or more Commercial Item, Firm-Fixed-Price, contract(s) resulting from this RFP to the responsible offeror whose offer provides the best value to the Government. All Evaluation Factors other than Cost/Price when combined are significantly more important than Cost/Price. The Government reserves the right not to make an award as well as reserves the right to make an award to other than the lowest priced offer or to make an award to other than the offer with the highest technical rating if the Contracting Officer determines that to do so would result in the best value to the Government. The following factors shall be addressed in the technical proposals and shall be used to evaluate proposals: Factor 1: Technical Approach - The technical approach factor has four sub-factors (a-d) listed as follows: a). PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS - The Offeror shall be regularly engaged in the providing an international newswire service with a proved record of accuracy, reliability and journalistic integrity and shall be regarded by the commercial news industry as a bona fide news gathering organization and a competent and reliable source of news material. The Offeror must have bureaus in major cities around the world. While this solicitation is for textual newswires, the 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 per day. b). TECHNICAL CAPABILITY OF THE SERVICES OFFERED - The Offeror shall provide a narrative detailing the approach that it will take to meet the requirement and shall provide details as to technical specifications so that the newswire services can be used on TV, the Internet and mobile/wireless devices with equal detail of image. c). COMPREHENSIVENESS OF COVERAGE INCLUDING U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL, BREAKING NEWS AND FEATURES - The newswire services shall include a broad range of topics, including but not limited to domestic and international current events, conflicts, disasters, politics, medicine, environment, technology, business/finance, sports, entertainment and social issues. d). RELIABILITY/EASE OF ACCESS AND USE - The Offeror shall provide a narrative detailing the approach taken to deliver the newswire services to the Agency. Each party shall be responsible for maintaining in proper operating condition the lines and equipment which it furnishes. The contents of the above-described news services will be used by VOA for dissemination by its broadcasting services and other media. The locations of the delivery points include VOA Washington, DC headquarters and any domestic and overseas locations designated by VOA management through the Agency’s Office of Contracts. Should any of the non-Washington, DC locations have the capability to access VOA’s newsroom computer system directly and have access to the Contractor’s wires through it, this would not constitute a reason for an additional license fee. The Contractor agrees to provide access to its news wire services at any location worldwide where this is technically feasible as jointly agreed by the Agency and Offeror. The Contractor shall provide the names for all of the news wire services that it offers. The Contractor shall provide to VOA additional print news wires, which are available to its other customers, at a pre-determined discounted rate, so that VOA has this information should it desire to add any of these wires in the future. The Contractor shall provide a primary and backup delivery system of the supplied news wire services. The Contractor shall also provide access to subscribed news wire services via the Internet; Factor 2: MANAGEMENT APPROACH - The Offeror must provide a description of the approach they will take to meet the requirement; Factor 3: EXPERIENCE - The Offeror shall provide recent examples of its work (within the past three (3) years) demonstrating its experience in providing the services required under this Solicitation to Governmental or commercial customers. The Offeror shall have demonstrated experience in regularly being engaged in providing a newswire service known in the news industry for fair, balanced and comprehensive news coverage of news events, politics, natural events, business and financial news, sports, entertainment and lifestyle to Governmental and/or commercial customers and Factor 4: PAST PERFORMANCE: The Offeror’s Technical proposal shall contain detailed information on past performance and relevant contracts for same services with a minimum of three (3) reference including contract numbers, points of contact with telephone numbers and email addresses (i.e., the point of contact who can verify the Offeror’s past performance). The BBG shall evaluate the Offeror’s Past Performance pursuant to FAR 15.305(a)(2). Each Offeror’s Past Performance shall be determined to be favorable or unfavorable. 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 be evaluated as neutral. Interested offerors shall provide a Separate Price Proposal showing a price breakdown for the CLIN above. The prices shall be provided in English and United States dollars. The Price Proposal must contain Attachment A entitled “SUPPLIES AND PRICES/COSTS” which must be filled out by the offeror and a signed copy of the SF 1449 which is attached to this notice. The total price including options will be evaluated for completeness and reasonableness. Offerors are cautioned that failure to address each of the above evaluation 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. Offerors may either submit a paper copy of FAR Clause 52.212-3 or submit this information through the System of Award Management (SAM) at HTTPS://WWW.SAM.GOV/PORTAL/PUBLIC/SAM/. Proposals must also include contractor's DUNS Number, prompt payment terms, and correct remittance address, if different from mailing address. THE SUCCESSFUL CONTRACTOR MUST BE REGISTERED ONLINE IN THE SAM WEB SITE PRIOR TO CONTRACT AWARD. (xi) The FAR clause 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commerical Items, applies to this acquistion with addendum to the clause. The addendum to the language contained in Attachment B is as follows: CONTRACTING OFFICER’S REPRESENTATIVE The Contracting Officer will appoint by letter a Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) who will have the responsibility of ensuring that the work performed by the Contractor conforms to the requirements of the contract and such other responsibilities and authorities as may be specified in the letter of authorization or in this contract. It is understood and agreed, in particular, that the COR shall not have the authority to make changes to 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 in the contract. THE CONTRACTOR IS HEREBY FOREWARNED THAT, ABSENT THE REQUISITE AUTHORITY OF THE CONTRACTING OFFICER’S REPRESENTATIVE (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 COSTS TO THE GOVERNMENT, TO TAKE ALL CORRECTIVE ACTION NECESSITATED BY REASON OF THE UNAUTHORIZED CHANGES. (End of Clause) CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION The Contractor shall designate below a company official whom the BBG may contact during the period of performance of this contract for prompt contract administration: NAME: TITLE: ADDRESS: E-MAIL: PHONE: FACSIMILE: The Contractor shall also designate below a company official responsible for reviewing performance evaluation entered into the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS). NAME: TITLE: ADDRESS: E-MAIL: PHONE: FACSIMILE: INVOICE SUBMISSION (a) The Contractor shall submit an advanced quarterly invoice to the COR via email. The COR will be identified at the time of award. (b) The Contractor’s quarterly invoice shall list: (1) name and address of Contractor, (2) invoice date and invoice number, (3) BBG contract number (e.g., BBG50-C-15-0000) and (4) the number of days services will be provided. (c) Pursuant to the Prompt Payment Act, the BBG will pay the invoice within 30 days of either: (1) receipt of the invoice or (2) acceptance of deliverables; whichever is later. Note No. 1: The BBG intends to change its current invoicing procedures to the Invoice Processing Platform (IPP) system. The Contractor may be required in the future to register and submit invoices through the IPP system. Any costs associated with complying with the invoice change will be at the Contractor’s expense. Please visit https://www.ipp.gov/ for more information. Note No. 2: The invoice date must be within the current quarter being billed. For example if the contract period of performance is 1/1/15 – 12/31/15, then the invoice for the first quarter can be dated any date from 1/1/15 to 3/31/15. In this example, the invoice cannot be dated earlier than 1/1/15. EXERCISING OF OPTIONS UNDER THIS CONTRACT The Government reserves the right to exercise unilaterally the options in the contract subject to the availability of funding. The parties agree that the Government may partially exercise and fund any options in the contract and may do so multiple times up to the point that the option has been fully exercised and funded. The Contractor, however, will not be entitled to any additional compensation beyond that associated with the amount of the option exercise. In the event that BBG does not give written notice to exercise an option, the contract will expire at the end of the existing period of performance (the Base Period or Option Period) as applicable. Additionally, the parties agree that, in the event the BBG decides not to exercise any options, BBG will have no further obligation to the Contractor under this contract other than to pay for services the Contractor actually rendered to BBG hereunder. (End of Clause) 52.217-9 OPTION TO EXTEND THE TERM OF THE CONTRACT (MAR 2000) (a) The Government may extend the term of this contract by written notice to the Contractor within two (2) days of the expiration of the current period of performance ; provided that the Government gives the Contractor a preliminary written notice of its intent to extend at least thirty (30) days before the contract expires. The preliminary notice does not commit the Government to an extension. (b) If the Government exercises this option, the extended contract shall be considered to include this option clause. (c) The total duration of this contract, including the exercise of any options under this clause, shall not exceed sixty-three (63) months. (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 (Sept 2006) with Alternate I (Oct. 1995); 52.204-10, Reporting Executive compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards (Jul 2013); 52.209-6, Protecting the Government s ’ Interest When Subcontracting with Contractors Debarred, Suspended, or Proposed for Debarment (Aug 2013) ; 52.209-9, Updates of Publicly Available Information Regarding Responsibility Matters (Jul 2013); 52.219-8 Utilization of Small Business Concerns (Oct 2014); 52.219-28 Post Award Small Business Program Rerepresentation (Jul 2013); 52.222-3 Convict Labor (June 2003); 52.222-19 Child Labor—Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies (Jan 2014); 52.222-21 Prohibition of Segregated Facilities (Feb 1999); 52.222-26 Equal Opportunity (Mar 2007) (E.O. 11246); 52.222-35 Equal Opportunity for Veterans (Jul 2014); 52.222-36 Equal Opportunity for Workers with Disabilities (Jul 2014); 52.222-37 Employment Reports on Veterans (Jul 2014); 52.222-40, Notification of Employee Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act (Dec 2010);52.222-50 Combating Trafficking in Persons (Mar 2015); 52.223-18, Encouraging Contractor Policies to Ban Text Messaging while Driving (Aug 2011); 52.225-13 Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases (June 2008) 52.227-18 Existing Works (Dec 2007) and 52.232-33 Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer-System for Award Management (Jul 2013). (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 (Apr 1984) 52.237-3 Continuity of Services (Jan 1991). There are no other additional contract requirement(s) necessary for this acquisition other than those consistent with customary commercial practices. (xiv) No Defense Priorities and Allocation System (DPAS) rating assigned. (xv) Failure to provide the required services for any the above CLIN may result in the rejection of your proposal. Questions concerning this solicitation must be submitted in writing and must be received by the Contracting Specialist, Seneca Belinfontie, no later than August 27, 2015, 12:00PM Eastern Daylight Time on via email at request-for-proposals@voanews.com. Offerors are cautioned not to direct questions concerning this solicitation to anyone but the Contracting Specialist. No questions will be accepted after the established deadline date. Proposals shall be in writing and must be signed by an official who is authorized to bind the organization. Fax or oral proposals will not be accepted. Proposals shall be submitted electronically via email to Seneca Belinfontie at request-for-proposals@voanews.com. All proposals must be received by September 8, 2015, 12:00PM Eastern Daylight Time on insert date. Offerors are reminded to submit two separate attachments – a technical proposal and a separate price proposal. Offerors may send one email with both attachments. ALL ATTACHMENTS MUST BE SENT IN “PDF FORMAT” AND THE TOTAL SIZE OF ALL ATTACHMENTS MUST NOT EXCEED 23MB. ALL SUBMISSIONS MUST INCLUDE THE SOLICITATION NUMBER (BBG50-R-15-0040) IN THE SUBJECT LINE. (xvi) Contact: Seneca Belinfontie, Contract Specialist, Facsimile 202-382-7870, email: sbelinfo@VOANews.COM. All responsible sources may submit an offer that will be considered by the Agency.
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