Loren Data's SAM Daily™

FBO DAILY ISSUE OF JUNE 30, 2002 FBO #0210
SOLICITATION NOTICE

76 -- SERIAL SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES

Notice Date

6/28/2002
 

Notice Type

Solicitation Notice
 

Contracting Office

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Administration, Division of Contracts and Property Management, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD, 20852-2738
 

ZIP Code

20852-2738
 

Solicitation Number

RS-OCIO-03-320-A
 

Response Due

7/11/2002
 

Archive Date

7/26/2002
 

Point of Contact

Brenda DuBose, Contract Specialist, Phone (301) 415-6578, Fax (301) 415-8157, - Brenda DuBose, Contract Specialist, Phone (301) 415-6578, Fax (301) 415-8157,
 

E-Mail Address

bjd2@nrc.gov, bjd2@nrc.gov
 

Description

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. Offerors are notified that this combined synopsis/solicitation has been posted on FedBizOps in four separate parts as follows: Part A - Synopsis/Solicitation and Parts 1 through 4 which is a list of subscriptions required by the NRC. The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 02-07. All referenced Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clauses may be obtained via the Internet at URL: http://www.arnet.gov/far/. All referenced NRC Acquisition clauses (NRCAR) may be obtained at http://www.nrc.gov/ADM/CONTRACT/contract.html. FAR clauses will be indicated by "FAR" followed by the section number. NRCAR clauses will be indicated by "NRCAR" followed by the section number. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION. PROPOSALS ARE BEING REQUESTED AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE ISSUED. Solicitation No. RS-CIO-03-320 herein is issued as a Request for Proposal (RFP). This RFP is for full and competition and the NAICS Code is 56199. The NRC intends to issue a Commercial Item, Fixed Price Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity Delivery Order Contract, with a period of performance of one year with four additional one year option periods. The minimum ordering requirement under this effort is $47,500. The maximum ordering requirement under this effort is $190,000. The services required by the NRC under this effort are for a SUBSCRIPTION AGENT who is capable of providing the necessary facility, qualified personnel, and computer equipment required to provide serial subscription services for the NRC's Library. The subscriptions to be renewed for the NRC by the subscription agent can be at Attachment 1. BACKGROUND -- The NRC Technical Library currently subscribes to approximately 344 serial titles, both domestic and foreign. Most are scientific in nature, but general magazines and legal journals are required. Subscriptions to these serials are necessary to provide current information on subjects of interest to NRC staff in performing its duties. Because of the large number of titles involved, the services of a subscription agent are required. BASIC RENEWAL SUBSCRIPTION ORDERING REQUIREMENTS -- It is MANDATORY that the contractor provide NRC with ALL titles on its Subscription Order List and it is MANDATORY that the subscriptions are offered to the Government at a price that is either discounted or does not exceed the current publisher's price. It is further MANDATORY that the contractor provide to the Government free or discounted access to the electronic journals, if available from the publisher, for renewal subscription orders. It is also MANDATORY that the contractor have sufficient capital funding on hand to prepay subscriptions as necessary before the NRC makes it initial major payment to the contractor. The contractor shall place the renewal subscription orders by November 1 of each calendar year to prevent subscriptions from lapsing and to avoid gaps in the NRC's Library holdings. NEW SUBSCRIPTION ORDERS -- The NRC may require the contractor to place new orders. All new orders, domestic or foreign, shall be filled promptly upon issuance of a modification to the contract by the Contracting Officer. In the case of domestic titles, the order request shall be placed within ten (10) calendar days of receipt by the contractor. In the case of foreign titles, the order request shall be placed within (20) twenty calendar days of receipt by the contractor. A written report on the status of all new orders shall be furnished to the NRC's Project Officer on a monthly basis. On occasion, the NRC may require that an order request be placed on a rush basis. In such cases, the NRC Project Officer or designee will notify the contractor by telephone or facsimile and request the contractor to advise the publisher of the order request and place the order within twenty-four hours. The contractor shall inform the NRC Project Officer of the cost and estimated date of receipt of the first issue within five (5) days of the request from the Project Officer. The Contracting Officer will issue a contract modification for any additional subscriptions required under this effort. The contractor shall provide to the Government , if available from the publisher, free access to the electronic journals, for new subscription orders. BILL-TO AND SHIP-TO ADDRESS REQUIREMENTS -- The contractor shall order subscriptions in multiple copies and ship them to multiple addresses (Attachment 2), while maintaining one overall bill-to account. At the present time the NRC has nine (9) ship-to addresses, including its Regional Offices, each receiving a separate list of serial titles. One of these ship-to address lists contains the names and mail-stops of NRC Headquarters staff in Rockville, Maryland, to whom serial issues shall be sent direct from the publisher. The contractor shall ensure that the publishers receive the names and mail-stops of these Headquarters staff members and that the publishers are properly instructed to send issues to the Headquarters staff members attention at the common ship-to address. The contractor shall not treat each named staff member as a separate ship-to address. CHANGE OF ADDRESS -- Change of address, either ship-to address or headquarters staff mail-stop, shall be relayed to the publisher by the contractor within five (5) calendar days of receipt of notification from the Project Officer, at no additional cost to the Government. The contractor shall provide to the Project Officer a written summary of address changes on a monthly basis, showing date of request and date of notification to publisher. CLAIMS AND CREDITS -- The contractor shall initiate action on claims for issues not received by NRC personnel within five (5) calendar days of notification by the NRC Project Officer or designee. All claims shall be resolved either in the form of submission of a duplicate copy of the subscription or a credit to the NRC's account. The contractor's action on claims shall be completed within twenty (20) calendar days of the Project Officer's notification of the missing issue. The NRC will make an oral claim or utilize a standard form provided by the contractor upon mutual agreement of both parties. A written report on the status of the claims shall be provided to the Project Officer or designee on a monthly basis. The contractor shall not charge an additional service fee for claiming missing issues. When a publisher credits the contractor for any of the NRC's orders, the contractor shall immediately credit the NRC's account in the full amount and shall inform the Project Officer or designee with a credit memorandum with a copy to the Contracting Officer. When the NRC cancels a subscription, the contractor shall immediately credit the NRC's account with any refund furnished and shall inform the Project Officer or designee via a credit memorandum. LIST OF TITLES -- The contractor shall generate lists of titles by computer, placing them in alphabetical order and showing number of copies, frequency, subscription period, and price. Separate lists are necessary for each ship-to address, and also a master list of all titles in one alphabet. In the case of bill-later items, an accurate estimated price shall be provided. The NRC may request a separate list of bill-later titles from time to time. All lists shall be in black type on standard 8-1/2" X 11" white paper for ease of reproduction. Titles shall be in a consistent, generally accepted form based on current serial cataloging practices. The lists shall be left-justified by title, with all related information, including Headquarters staff ship-to address, under a given title and indented to the right. FACILITIES, PERSONNEL, CATALOGUES -- The contractor shall provide the facility, qualified personnel, and computer equipment necessary to generate the required serial title lists and monthly reports which shall be accurate, timely, and properly formatted. The contractor's annual published catalog shall serve as the basis for titles available from the contractor, but the contractor is expected to provide new or obscure titles required upon request by the NRC as a result of any bibliographic research. There shall be few, if any, new titles which the NRC orders that the contractor cannot ultimately provide. However, the contractor shall provide all of the mandatory serial titles reflected on the NRC's Renewal Lists. The contractor shall send its annual catalog to the NRC Project Officer no later than March 1 of each year of the contract. The contractor shall regularly inform the NRC Project Officer of title changes and titles that have ceased publication, as this information becomes available. SUBSCRIPTION RENEWALS -- The contractor shall submit to the Project Officer the Annual Renewal Lists for the next calendar year no later than August 1 of each contract year. Separate lists for each ship-to address shall be provided in four copies, containing prices of current publishers' list prices. This will allow the NRC to make any necessary additions, deletions, or corrections. The contractor shall administer all subscriptions placed under this contract for the NRC until the expiration of the subscriptions, although the contract may have expired. PLACE OF DELIVERY -- The subscriptions to be delivered hereunder shall be delivered, with all charges paid by the contractor, to the addresses listed on the "Ship To" List (Attachment 2). REPRESENTATION/CERTIFICATIONS/APPLICABLE CLAUSES -- FAR 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items, and 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial items applies to this acquisition. Offeror must include a completed copy of the provision at 52.212-3 (October 2000) Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items, with its offer. FAR 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition with following additional clauses: 52.203-6, 52.216-18, 52.216-19, 52.216-22, 52.219-4, 52.219-8, 52.219-9, 52.219-16, 52.219-23, 52.222-19, 52.222-21, 52.222-35, 52.222-36, 52.222-37, 52.225-3, 52.225-13, and 52.232-33. In addition, the following clause applies to this acquisition: Compliance with U.S. Immigration Laws and Regulations -- NRC contractors are responsible to ensure that their alien personnel are not in violation of United States Immigration and Naturalization (INS) laws and regulations, including employment authorization documents and visa requirements. Each alien employee of the Contractor must be lawfully admitted for permanent residence as evidenced by Alien Registration Receipt Card Form 1-151 or must present other evidence from the Immigration and Naturalization Services that employment will not affect his/her immigration status. The INS Office of Business Liaison (OBL) provides information to contractors to help them understand the employment eligibility verification process for non-US citizens. This information can be found on the INS website http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/services/employerinfo/index.htm#obl. The NRC reserves the right to deny or withdraw contractor use or access to NRC facilities or its equipment/services, and/or take any number of contract administrative actions (e.g., disallow costs, terminate for cause) should the contractor violate the contractor's responsibility under this clause. QUESTIONS -- All questions or inquires concerning this requirement must be received no later than 12:00 Noon on July 3, 2002, and must be directed to Brenda J. DuBose, Contract Specialist at bjd2@nrc.gov or an offeror may forward its questions via facsimile to Ms. DuBose at (301) 415-8157 not later than 12:00 Noon on July 3, 2002. INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS -- Sealed offers must be received at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Division of Contracts and Property Management, T-7-I2, Washington, D.C. 20555, by 12:00 Noon on July 11, 2002. All hand-carried proposals including those delivered by private delivery services must be delivered to the loading dock security station located at 1555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852 and received in the depository located in Room T-7-I2. All offerors shall allow extra time for internal mail distribution. NRC is a secure facility with perimeter access control and NRC personnel are only available to receive hand-carried proposals between 7:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding Federal Holidays. Please include the solicitation number on the envelope containing your organization's proposal. Proposals shall be typed, printed, or reproduced on letter-size paper and each copy must be legible. Offerors shall submit its proposal in the following two separate and distinct parts: (1) One (1) original and four (4) copies of the "Technical Proposal" and one (1) original and four (4) copies of the "Cost Proposal". An offeror's cost proposal shall reflect all costs necessary to perform the work reflected in this effort. Proposals shall not exceed 30 pages, inclusive of the past performance references discussed below (if both sides of a page are used, each side is counted as one page). Any pages beyond the first 30 will not be considered in the evaluation. All charts, graphs, and other information, inclusive of past performance information, will be counted in the page limitation. Foldouts and sales brochures are prohibited. Offerors are notified that all information provided in its proposal must be accurate, truthful, and complete to the best of the offeror's knowledge and belief. The Commission will rely upon all such representations made by the offeror both in the evaluation process and for the performance of the work by the offeror selected for award. NRC intends to evaluate offers and award without discussions with offerors. Therefore, the offeror's initial proposal should contain the offeror's best terms from a price and technical standpoint. However, the Government reserves the right to conduct discussions if later determined by the Contracting Officer to be necessary. The Government may reject any or all offers if such action is in the public interest or accept other than the lowest offer. An offeror must certify, using the certification reflected at Attachment 3, that its organization meets the mandatory requirements of this Statement of Work. Offerors that fail to submit the certification (Attachment 3) with its offer, will not be further evaluated for award. Instructions -- Offerors shall provide past performance information that includes recent and relevant information for a minimum of two contracts performed over the past five (5) years for efforts accomplished in similar size and scope to the NRC's effort. This information shall include contract number, dollar value, point of contact with a current telephone number and a brief synopsis of the services performed. The NRC may contact these firms, as well as other firms/sources, at its discretion. In addition, offerors shall identify all contracts similar in size and scope to this effort that have been terminated for default or convenience or subject to any disputes. Offerors with no record of relevant past performance history will be evaluated neither favorably or unfavorably on past performance. PROPOSAL REQUIREMENT - PRICING -- This is a one (1) year contract that includes four additional one (1) year option periods. The offeror shall submit an overall cost proposal for the entire period of performance (base period and option periods). All offerors shall submit on separate line items: 1) an estimated price of proposal renewal orders and its handling charge which shall include all costs for providing the services for the base year, 2) an estimated price of proposed renewal orders and its handling charge which shall include all costs for providing the services for each option year, and 3) a total estimated price for the base and option years. PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS -- TECHNICAL & MANAGEMENT -- The proposal shall not contain any reference to prices. The offerors shall submit full and complete information in the order set forth below to permit the NRC to perform a thorough evaluation and make a sound determination of whether the offeror will have a reasonable likelihood of meting the requirements and objectives of this procurement. The proposal shall be fully self-contained, and shall specifically address the technical evaluation factors. NRC will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. Price is considered a substantial factor and will be evaluated for fairness and reasonableness but it is less important than Corporate Experience/Past Performance. The price factor will not be point scored as the rated criteria. EVALUATION CRITERIA -- The following factors will be used to evaluate offerors: (1) CORPORATE EXPERIENCE/PAST PERFORMANCE (50 POINTS) and TECHNICAL APPROACH (50 POINTS):Criteria 1: CORPORATE EXPERIENCE/PAST PERFORMANCE (50 POINTS) The offeror shall discuss how well its proposal demonstrates corporate experience and successful past performance on contracts performed within the past five (5) years, similar in size and scope to the effort described in this combined synopsis/solicitation, in providing serial subscription services for both domestic and foreign publications in electronic and paper journal format. Criteria 2: TECHNICAL APPROACH (50 POINTS) The offeror shall also discuss its ability to provide the necessary resources (i.e., facilities, qualified personnel, and computer equipment) required to perform the services reflected in this combined synopsis/solicitation, to include its ability to provide the NRC with both electronic and paper journals, to include free or discounted access to the electronic journals, if available from the publisher, its ability to meet the established time frame of ten (10) calendar days for processing all new orders for domestic titles and twenty (20) calendar days for processing new order requests for foreign titles. In addition, the offeror shall discuss its approach to processing rush requests for orders within twenty-four (24) hours; its approach to handling claims for missing issues within five (5) calendar days and having those claims for missing issues resolved within twenty (20) days; and expediting change of address requests within five (5) calendar days of receipt of request from NRC. Proposals for this requirement may be submitted by all concerns, i.e., large businesses, small businesses, and small businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. Notice to large businesses: The subcontracting plan requirements of P.L. 95-507 are applicable to this effort. Thus, all large businesses determined to be in the competitive range must be prepared to submit a detailed subcontracting plan. Businesses, large and small, interested in teaming arrangements, should send their business information (i.e., Name, address, contact name and phone number, and size of business) to the NRC Contract Specialist listed at the end of this notice no later than June 19, 2002. The NRC will post this information in a Teaming Opportunities list by issuance of an amendment to this solicitation. All parties are put on notice that this limited source list is not representative of all sources which may have accessed this synopsis/solicitation. A potential offeror may identify suitable multi agency contracts it holds with another Federal agency which may be used to procure the requested goods or services. The NRC intends to explore the feasibility of using any such multi agency contract to meet the NRC's requirement and reserves the right to cancel the procurement before the solicitation is issued should the NRC locate an appropriate multi agency contract. All parties will be notified of the awardee's name and address when the award information is synopsized in FedBizOpps. No telephone inquires concerning this requirement will be accepted. Attachment 1 - List of Required Serial Subscriptions (Posted as a separate document under FedBizOps. See note below under Attachment 1); Attachment 2 - Ship To Address List; Attachment 3 - Certification; Attachment 4 - Billing Instructions for Fixed Price Contracts; Attachment 5- Subcontracting Plan Instructions and Form (To be provided to offerors determined to be in the competitive range.) ATTACHMENT 1: LIST OF REQUIRED SERIAL SUBSCRIPTIONS The list of required serial subscriptions has been posted as a separate document under this requirement. Offerors shall return to the FedBizOps Homepage to obtain titles for the required serial subscriptions. These subscriptions have been posted in four (4) parts (i.e., Part 1 of 4, Part 2 of 4, Part 3 of 4, and Part 4 of 4). ATTACHMENT 2: SHIP TO ADDRESSES 1. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region II Library Atlanta Federal Center 61 Forsyth Street, SW, Ste 23T85 Atlanta, Ga. 30303 2. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region III Library 801 Warrenville Road Lisle, Ill. 60532-4351 3. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region IV Library 611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400 Arlington, Texas 76011-8064 4. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Technical Training Center 5746 Marlin Road, Suite 200 Chattanooga, Tenn. 37411-5677 5. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region I Library 475 Allendale Road King of Prussia, Pa. 19406-1415 6. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Technical Library, Room T2C8 Washington, D.C. 20555 7. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Law Library and Legislative Services 15-B18 One White Flint North Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 8. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Multiple names and mail stops to be inserted *) One White Flint North Washington, D.C. 20555 Commissioner* Director, Office of Public Affairs * Congressional Affairs * * * * Chairman's Office * 9. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Multiple names and mail stops to be inserted **) Two White Flint North Washington, D.C. 20555 Office of the Inspector General * * Atomic Safety Licensing Board Panel * Office of Small Business and Civil Rights * Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards * Facilities Management Branch * Director, Division of Contracts and Property Management * *Specific names and addresses for delivery points will be provided in the resultant contract award document. ATTACHMENT 3: CERTIFICATION I, (NAME OF INDIVIDUAL AUTHORIZED), hereby certify that, (NAME OF COMPANY) is presently capable or will be capable by the anticipated contract award date of August 31, 2002, of meeting the mandatory requirements of RS-COI-03-320 entitled "Serial Subscription Services" for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which requires the offeror to provide the NRC with all titles on its Subscription Order List at a price that is either discounted or does not exceed the current publisher's price, and provide free or discounted access to the electronic journals, and have sufficient capital funding to prepay subscriptions as necessary prior to the NRC making its first initial payment . ____________________________________ NAME ____________________________________ TITLE ____________________________________ DATE
 

Place of Performance

Address: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland

Zip Code: 20852

Country: USA
 

Record

SN00101817-W 20020630/020628213415 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)

---

| FSG Index  |  This Issue's Index  |  Today's FBO Daily Index Page |