U.S. Railroad Retirement Board, Purchasing Division, Room 1230, 844 North Rush St., Chicago, IL 60611-2092

36 -- SPECIAL INDUSTRY MACHINERY SOL 99-C-1 DUE 112498 POC Karen Haskins-Brewer 312/751-4615 I. This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subject 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation. Bids are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. II. This solicitation is issued as a Request-For Quotation (RFQ) 99-C-1. III. The solicitation document and incorporated provisions are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular Number 97-08. IV. This solicitation is not a small business set-aside. V. A. The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB), an independent Federal Government agency, with its headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, intends to procure, through a Lease with Option to Purchase (LWOP) Fair Market Value Purchase Option, a console style insert sealing machine. B. Each firm's bid must include freight and installation charges, including, but not limited to, inside delivery, set-up and complete operator training. The price quotation shall be configured as follows: 1. Offered purchase price that is the basis for the monthly price, 2. Monthly Lease price, and 3. Purchase Option Cap price at the end of the 48 month lease period, 4. Prices for installation and implementation of the new insertion system and de-installation and removal and trade-in credit for Pitney Bowes 8318, Insert Sealing Machine (Model 8300 Series Inserter). 5. Maintenance support price Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., excluding Federal holidays. 6. On-call Repair Services/Emergency Repair Services -- hourly price. (Periods other than 8:00 a.m. -- 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. This price includes holiday periods and weekends). VI. The console style insert sealing system must contain a minimum of 5 stations including one on-line mounted folding station to handle the approximate 200,000 pieces of outgoing mail processed each month. The RRB processes a variety of envelope sizes ranging from 3-1/4" to 6-1/2" up to 6" x 12" and would like to have the capability to process 9" x 12" envelope sizes. A. The new system should meet or exceed the following requirements: 1. be capable of processing all automaton compatible size mail pieces; 2. be able to handle insert sized from 3-1/2" x 8-1/2" up to 5-7/8" x 11-1/4", and handle up to a 3/16" individual thickness insert; 3. cycle at a minimum of 7,200 per hour; 4. contain a late feed and fail feed detection system on each enclosure feeder; 5. self-centering guides on envelope and enclosure stations for quick and simplified job changeover and operator convenience; 6. a Pentium Processor (minimum 233 MHZ)on-board running Windows based inserter system controller; 7. ability to seal finished envelopes; 8. folding station that can produce half, standard, accordion and double folds; 9. folder should include a page count feature to be used in processing multiple page documents not identified by OMR Marks having a consistent number of pages per sheet; 10. system should have the abilityto selectively turn off all insert stations without the need to remove the material from the insert station; 11. enclosure feeders to be large capacity (18") in order to provide continuous operations with minimal operator intervention; 12. microprocessor control of all feeder functions to eliminate mechanical linkages; 13. the ability to single cycle in order to clear jams or assist in job changeover; 14. touch sensitive CRT screen to allow simplified operation and quick error detection; 15. the ability to change line spacing on programmed OMR Marks; 16. capability to print hard copy report(s) containing total envelope count, count values for each feeder as well as machine performance (i.e. faults occurred); 17. folding device to have Optical Mark Reading for identification of end of collations; 18. system should not shut down when feed trays empties or delays. System is to go into dwell or idle until such time as the material(s) are replenished or corrected and restart automatically in proper sequence; 19. operator must be able to adjust the cycle speed of the system; and 20. a high speed postage meter for production mailings. 21. All operations: loading, unloading, and adjustments must be located on one side of the machine for optimum utilization of employee time and maximum operator convenience. The system itself should be new and not shopworn, prototype or demonstrator. The whole system must meet OSHA Standards as well as Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Standard 478 for electrical and mechanical safety. System must also meet U.S. and International Standards for Electromagnetic Emissions (EM). C. The contractor shall accept for trade-in and remove from the premises the current machine, Pitney Bowes 8318 Insert Sealing Machine (Model 8300 Series Inserter) and attached equipment. The contractor shall minimize disruption of service by removing the Government-owned machines at the time the replacement equipment furnished here under is delivered and ready to be installed. The Board will not provide temporary storage of equipment pending removal from the building. D. In addition, the system/model must be in current production as of the date a bid is submitted under this solicitation. "Current Production", for purposes herein shall mean that the system/model is being manufactured as new equipment for the United States market. Any system/model being offered as "remanufactured" is also acceptable; however it must have been inspected and tested to the original manufacturer's standards. Manufactured equipment means factory rebuilt to original specifications. The system/model furnished after award, as new or newly remanufactured, must not have been used at any other time prior to delivery after the manufacturing or remanufacturing process. E. The contractor must provide implementation assistance to allow for a brief cut-over period. The optimum period for deinstallation/installation would begin after 3 p.m. on Friday and end by noon Sunday; however, the Board is willing to consider other alternatives. In no event may the mailing, insertion services of the Board be disrupted for longer than forty eight hours. The implementation assistance shall include, but not be limited to: 1. Delivery and installation of the system, 2. System engineering assistance and/or consulting in the areas of system software updates, physical planning, testing, and system tuning 3. Providing and installing all cables, connectors and other peripherals necessary to operate the system; 4. Orientation and technical overview presentations for in-house system operators. VII. Sealing machine must be delivered, installed and set up on the second floor of headquarters at 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, IL 60611-2092. There is one freight elevator available with a weight capacity of 6,000 lbs. Delivery should occur within 45 days after written notification of acceptance. VIII. FAR Provision 52.212-1, Instructions to Commercial Offerors -- Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition and is hereby included by reference. The bidder must describe the methods/features/software with which the specification will be met. Include detailed specifications, brochures, descriptive literature and functionality assessments. Warranty information, if applicable, and terms must be a part of the package as well as a detailed description and schedule of the on-site operator training program. Both must be included in the pricing document. The successful bidder must provide full on-call maintenance support, 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday except Federal holidays by full qualified factory trained certified technicians on all components of the system. A maintenance schedule must be included in the bid package. Additionally, on-call repair services shall be available with a response of time 3 hours after notification from the RRB. IX. Proposals will be evaluated using the following technical and past performance criteria: a. Capability of machine to meet RRB specifications and requirements. b. Quality of submitted maintenance plan. c. Past performance of machine in similar business environments. The offeror shall submit, as part of its proposal, information on previously performed contracts or on-going contracts that are similiar to the statement of work in the solicitation performed for Federal, State or local Governments and for commercial firms. Informaton shall be provided on either 1) all such contracts within the past three years, or 2) the last three such contracts performed, whichever is fewer, and shall be limited to the name and address of the organization for which the product was supplied and services were performed and the number (phone, fax or Internet) of at least two contacts for each contract listed. The offeror should not describe past performance history in the proposal. The information may include, however, discussion of any major problems encountered on the contracts listed and the corrective actions taken to resolve them. The information may also include a description of any quality awards earned by the offeror. The relationship of price to all other factors is 1:1. Responses will be evaluated according to which firm can meet the functional requirements at the best value to the Government. Sources demonstrating the capability of furnishing the above system shall supply pertinent information to perform a complete and proper evaluation. Each bid response must clearly indicate the capability of the bidder to meet all specifications and requirements. X. FAR Provision 52.212-3, Offeror's Representations and Certifications -- Commercial Items, must be completed and submitted with the offer. XI. Far Clause 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions -- Commercial Items, applies to this solicitation. XII. FAR clause, 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders -- Commercial Items, hereby applies to this acquisition. XIII. FAR clause, 52.232-18, Availability of funds, applies to this solicitation. System must be Year 2000 compliant per FAR Subpart 39.002 incorporated by reference. Offeror certifies price and terms offered in response to this solicitation are valid for 180 calendar days from the date of offer. XVI. Offers and supporting documentation shall be received in this office no later than 11:00 a.m. local time, on November 24, 1998. Mark outside of the envelope clearly with "RFQ 99-C-1 enclosed" and bidder's name and address. Facsimile responses will not be accepted. The RRB will not send an acknowledgment of receipt of any firm's submission. Posted 11/04/98 (W-SN268561). (0308)

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