SOURCES SOUGHT
75 -- 99Manufacturing Companies Sought for a Co-Brand Agreement for Electric Pencil Sharpeners
- Notice Date
- 1/5/2016
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 339940
— Office Supplies (except Paper) Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Comm for Purchase from People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled, Committee for Purchase, Committee for Purchase, 1421 Jefferson Davis Highway, Jefferson Plaza #2, Room 10800, Arlington, Virginia, 22202-3259
- ZIP Code
- 22202-3259
- Solicitation Number
- CP-01-05-16-01
- Archive Date
- 2/6/2016
- Point of Contact
- Judy Szabo, Phone: 703-310-0352
- E-Mail Address
-
jcherepon@nib.org
(jcherepon@nib.org)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- On behalf of the U.S. AbilityOne Commission (operating name of The Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled) the independent federal agency that administers the AbilityOne Program, National Industries for the Blind (NIB), a designated central nonprofit agency, is pursuing potential partnerships with commercial manufacturers (note: no distributors, manufacturers only) of Electric Pencil Sharpeners for the purpose of providing employment for people who are blind or severely disabled by furnishing such products to the federal government under the AbilityOne Program. If successful, the result will be a co-brand agreement, between the manufacturer and the AbilityOne Program and its registered brands. The expectation is that the electric pencil sharpeners will be placed on the AbilityOne Procurement List (PL). The electric pencil sharpeners must meet and/or exceed the FAR and all other published Federal standards, including Executive Orders and applicable agency-unique requirements. To be considered for this partner opportunity the following criteria at a minimum must be met by the commercial manufacturer: 1)General Criteria: a)Co-brand agreements require that the manufacturer must possess a recognized brand name within the office products industry. Present data supporting market share and/or brand recognition. b)Be able to provide component parts for both a horizontal-shaped body, single hole electric sharpener with hardened carbon steel cutters, heavy duty, as well as a horizontal-shaped body, 6-hole electric sharpener with hardened carbon steel cutters, heavy duty (note: all 6 openings do not have to be visible from the exterior; the model can have a dial that accommodates the most popular 6 different diameter pencils). Provide pictures, model #s, and specs of both sharpeners. Both models should possess: auto stop, thermal shut-off switch, easy to empty large translucent shavings receptacle, non-skid rubber feet, and preferably ant-rust helical blades. c)Extra consideration will be given to manufacturers that make the component parts in Trade Agreement (TAA) compliant countries. Country of origin must be stated within your solicitation response. d)All products must be UL Listed and manufacturer must provide the component parts in a manner that the UL Listing is still intact, and will not require tampering with to assemble the sharpener. All cords and motors must be fully assembled and tested, as well as UL Listed. Please confirm this in your response. e)Manufacturer's response must include product and component part pricing information. f)Manufacturer must be willing to provide on-going technical and production assistance as needed, while enabling the selected nonprofit agency to meet the suitability criteria of the AbilityOne Program in the production process by delivering the components to the nonprofit agency's facility in BULK and instructing the nonprofit agency in proper techniques to complete the manufacturing and subsequent packaging of the products, thereby creating employment for people who are blind or severely disabled. Please state how you will meet this requirement. g)The chosen commercial manufacturer must be willing to set a high priority for delivering materials to the nonprofit agency within the agreed upon timeframes (please specify lead-times and service level %s in your response) in order to assure the agency of on-time deliveries to their end-user customers. h)Must commit to working cooperatively with AbilityOne personnel to market the products to federal government customers under the AbilityOne Program. Provide an overview of how you would do this. i)Must be willing to work with the selected nonprofit agency, NIB and the Commission to ensure that the products' price to federal end-users is fair and reasonable. State how you intend to ensure this. j)All products must be manufactured and lab tested, certified and customer tested to be effective according to their purpose. Test results and proof of certification MUST be provided with solicitation response. k)Manufacturer's submission must demonstrate that the specific products meet the various criteria, as well as indicate what employment steps the nonprofit agency's employees would perform. Submission should recommend ways to maximize the employment for people who are blind or severely disabled in the fulfillment of the products, while maintaining the ability to bring a competitive product to market. l)Manufacturer responses must exhibit expert knowledge of the below products, and must show your willingness to share technology and marketing/sales information in order to assist with customer questions, marketing needs, and successfully establishing manufacturing processes. Please provide specific actions that would be taken to accomplish this. 2)Product Specific Criteria: a)One-hole, commercial grade, horizontal position electric pencil sharpener •Pencil entry into the sharpener must happen in the horizontal position or at a slight angle to the horizon. No vertical sharpeners are allowed. •AC120V, 60Hz, 2.0A current •Thermal switch: 105 degrees Centigrade •Auto stop when fully sharpened •Thermal overload mechanism •Hardened steel helical blades •Will not start unless receptacle is in place •Fits pencil diameters 6.8-8.0 mm •Sharpens wood-cased and colored pencils that are of regular hardness (not soft pencils) •Noise level when operated should not be excessive •Easy to empty shavings receptacle, with minimum mess and effort. •UL listed for USA •Target delivered price for a full set of component parts is $9.00-10.00 or less. b)Six-adjustable-hole, commercial grade, horizontal position electric pencil sharpener •Pencil entry into the sharpener must happen in the horizontal position or at a slight angle to the horizon. No vertical sharpeners are allowed. •AC120V, 60Hz, 2.0A current •Thermal switch: 105 degrees Centigrade •Auto stop when pencil is at perfect point •Thermal overload mechanism •Hardened helical blades •Will not start unless receptacle is in place •Fits 6 different sized pencil diameters through the use of either an internal or external adjustable dial. •Colored pencil compatible •Quiet performance •Easy to empty, large shavings receptacle, with minimum mess and effort. •UL listed for USA •Target delivered price for a full set of component parts is $9.00-10.00 or less. The deadline for response is February 5, 2016. The WRITTEN, ELECTRONIC, response should be directed to the contact listed in this Notice. Proposals should address each of the product and manufacturer criteria specified above. Questions should be directed, in writing, to Judy Szabo, jszabo@nib.org. NOTE: The e-mail's subject line should begin with ‘Question: Sources Sought CP-##-##-##-## Information regarding the U.S. AbilityOne Commission can be found at www.abilityone.gov. Specific information regarding co-brand agreements can be found by navigating the top left corner of the website. Mouse over Laws, Regulations, and Policy and select Policy Memoranda. Select Operation Memoranda, then select Memorandum Number 22.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/JWOD/JWODCOP/COP01/CP-01-05-16-01/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: 1310 Braddock Place, Alexandria, Virginia, 22314, United States
- Zip Code: 22314
- Zip Code: 22314
- Record
- SN03983490-W 20160107/160105235025-f38df0102e76f76641c7572227323c87 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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