National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Boulevard, Golden, CO 80401-3393

D -- MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION OF NATIONAL ALTERNATIVE FUELS AND CLEAN CITIES HOTLINE SOL SS DW-190 DUE 030200 POC Kathee Flanagan Roque, e-mail: "kathee_roque@nrel.gov" or fax: 303.275.3109 WEB: n/a -- Sources Sought request only, n/a -- Sources Sought request only. E-MAIL: e-mail link for Kathee Flanagan Roque, Senior Contract, kathee_roque@nrel.gov. Sources Sought -- Under the Alternative Motor Fuels Act of 1988, the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, the Energy Policy Act of 1992, and a number of Executive Orders, the federal government has demonstrated its resolve to promote the use of alternative fuels and alternative fuel vehicles to clean up our environment, and to promote the goals of reaching energy independence and security. In tandem with the influence that such legislation has had on the stimulation of the alternative fuels industry is the need to support this legislation and resultant public interest by providing a national focal point for information. This focal point must provide a real-time resource that people may call or contact electronically to answer questions on all aspects of alternative fuels. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has been designated "Program Manager" by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to implement various parts of AMFA (1988) and the national Energy Policy Act (1992). The alternative fuels "hotline" function falls under the responsibility of NREL. Accordingly, NREL is seeking organizations that have the capability to manage and operate an Alternative Fuels and Clean Cities Hotline. The basic Hotline operation tasks are to provide knowledgeable Hotline operators/experts in the fields of alternative fuels, where the representation of fuel neutrality is absolute. The operators must be capable of answering questions from callers and electronic mail using: 1) expertise gained by having worked in the alternative fuel field; 2) searches of Web-based alternative fuels and related information; 3) searches of various databases, such as NREL's document database of alternative fuel documents; and 4) referrals to known experts in the alternative fuel field. Requests are processed in a real-time environment through Internet access, searching various databases in order to determine whether or not a caller/e-mail requester is a previous requester to the system, and to verify/update information stored on his/her behalf. The organization will be responsible for accurately entering requests for information into the request handling system; NREL then will distribute the information by an automated processing and distribution system. Possible related tasks for this project may include the coordination of a national conference of alternative fuel vehicle (AFV) stakeholders, and completion of certain communication and outreach tasks to raise awareness of the Hotline and other related activities. Consequently, skills related to these areas are requested from interested sources. Note, however, that the conference task is currently under evaluation and may not be included in any resultant request for proposals, should it be issued. Organizations responding to this Sources Sought request must have the following capabilities, attributes and skills: 1. The organization will demonstrate a historical involvement in, and extensive knowledge of, the alternative fuels industry. The organization will describe their alternative fuels expertise, and association/experience with the U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Cities program within their company. 2. The organization will show that it has significant contacts and resources in alternative fuels areas by demonstrating its involvement in conferences and events as panelists, speakers or exhibitors, including related publications. 3. The organization will demonstrate a high comfort level and degree of experience using the Internet and will describe its access/connectivity to the Web. The organization must have its own Internet IP address with high-speed connectivity. 4. The organization and personnel designated to be involved in this project will have a working knowledge of Unix, including the use of the 'vi' editor; knowledge of the Oracle relational database management system (RDBMS), preferably including the use of SQL*Plus; and demonstrated means of interfacing, through use of NREL-built forms, with NREL's Oracle tables. The organization will demonstrate that it can produce reportsand reduce tabular information to summary data for use in generating monthly reports to NREL, as well as specialized reports that can be generated, as needed, from the information stored about calls and requests in the Oracle RDBMS. 5. The organization will provide a list of publications in the alternative fuels area for which it can claim ownership. 6. The organization will demonstrate its capabilities to operate and manage all aspects of conferences at a national level, at which attendance exceeds 600 people. 7. The organization will describe its abilities and expertise in the area of developing public outreach campaigns, associations with the press and trade industries, and other related activities designed to support a program or activity of major consequence. 8. The organization will describe its experience in providing telephone-based customer service. Timely, accurate, and responsive service is required, along with helpful, courteous, and informed interactions over the phone. Any organizations interested in working with NREL to manage and operate a national alternative fuels hotline and potential associated activities should mail a list of qualifications and business profile to: "National Renewable Energy Laboratory / ATTN: Kathee Flanagan Roque / 1617 Cole Boulevard, MS 1632 / Golden, CO 80401-3393". Telephone inquiries will NOT be accepted; please submit inquiries by fax: 303.275.3109, or by e-mail: "kathee_roque@nrel.gov". Please be sure to include your e-mail address in any correspondence, as responses to inquiries will be made by e-mail. Electronic files should be submitted in MSWord/Excel or WordPerfect format. The list of qualifications should be responsive to the items listed above. This synopsis is not a request for proposals. Posted 02/02/00 (W-SN421040). (0033)

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