MODIFICATION
R -- PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
- Notice Date
- 12/3/2004
- Notice Type
- Modification
- Contracting Office
- Environmental Protection Agency, Oar Service Center/Oaqps, Rtp Procurement Operations Division, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
- ZIP Code
- 27711
- Solicitation Number
- RFQ-RT-04-00418
- Response Due
- 12/15/2004
- Archive Date
- 1/15/2005
- Description
- NAICS Code: 541990 THE PREVIOUSLY CANCELLED SYNOPSIS IS HEREBY RE-ISSUED. 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. QUOTES ARE BEING REQUESTED, AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE ISSUED. The solicitation number is RFQ-RT-04-00418, and the solicitation is being issued as a Request for Quotation (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 01-24. The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 541990 which has an annual size standard of six million dollars. It is anticipated that the contract will be awarded as a result of full and open competition. The purpose of this notice is to inform all interested parties that the Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC intends to award a Firm-fixed-price purchase order as a result of this solicitation. Award will be made to a single contractor. The period of performance will be nine months from the date of award. PROJECT TITLE: "South Africa Air Quality Management and Strategic Planning Program Development." The audience for this course is the Republic of South Africa's Department of Environment and Tourism (DEAT). BACKGROUND: The South African Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) has proposed an Air Quality Management Bill to introduce a comprehensive air quality management regime to the country. The Bill currently is being considered by Parliament. The Bill would supercede the current air law, the Atmospheric Pollution Prevention Act of 1965, which focuses primarily on the control of industrial air emissions. This revised Bill covers a broad range of air quality management programs, from ambient air standards to climate change and enforcement issues. The Bill also describes the roles and responsibilities of the different government entities involved, from the DEAT to municipal governments. Given the broadened responsibilities of the Bill, DEAT approached the U.S. Agency for International Development Office in Pretoria (USAID-Pretoria) to request the assistance of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in building DEAT=s climate change and air quality management capacity to support successful implementation of the Bill. Based on a 2003 study tour, the US EPA made several recommendations to DEAT about the level and types of assistance we might provide. These recommendations include: the provision of technical training; the development of a council of academic advisors to promote institutionalization of training programs; sharing U.S. emission standards and regulations; and on-site assistance by a senior level EPA staff person. DEAT is faced with the challenge of trying to leap-frog from a 1960's control program to a modern air quality management (AQM) program. In addition, they are faced with myriad issues that arise in a Federal system when administering such a program. The EPA has had several decades of experience with AQM in a Federal setting. The draft Bill provides DEAT with two years to develop a national framework for achieving the objectives outlined in the Bill. PURPOSE: The purpose of this project is to develop a 4 day long Air Quality Management Train the Trainer course covering the major aspects of air quality management to assist DEAT with a strategic planning process and enable them to meet the above deadline. For each course topic, DEAT will outline the next steps for how that topic will be addressed to build such a national framework. The audience for this course will be no more than 50 total attendees comprised of staff from the Republic of South Africa's Department of Environment and Tourism (DEAT), as well as selected other personnel from governmental and non-governmental organizations in South Africa. In the context of this course, the contract shall also conduct for DEAT a strategic planning session to allow them to leave the course with a plan for the next steps to implement air quality management in South Africa. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this contract is for the Contractor to deliver an effective 4 day long train-the-trainer air quality management overview course; leave DEAT with course materials for their future training activities; assist DEAT to develop a strategic plan for implementing their air quality management program; improve global air quality and reduce associated health risk. SCOPE OF WORK: The contractor shall perform the following tasks: TASK 1: Development of the Draft Air Quality Management Training Course - The Contractor shall review current available resources. The Project Officer shall make available to the Contractor, existing documents and other relevant materials, which shall form the basis for the Course. Examples of such documents include the existing Air Pollution Training Institute courses such as Principles and Practices of Air Pollution Control, the web-based Introduction to Air Pollution Control, Basic Concepts in Environmental Sciences, Introduction to Risk Assessment, Basic Air Pollution Meteorology, & the Introduction to Permitting. These documents are available from the EPA Air Pollution Training Institute at http://www.epa.gov/air/oaqps/eog/course_listing.html . Draft Course Development - While much of the course content will be pulled from existing EPA materials, this existing material focuses heavily on U.S. strategies and requirements. As a result, subject matter expertise is required and the Contractor shall be responsible for compiling the best pieces of the content and put that content in an international context. The Course shall be no more than 4 days in length. The following topics shall be covered: human health and environmental effects of air pollution; transport and dispersion of air pollution; air quality management; ambient monitoring of criteria air pollutants; data analysis and interpretation, public reporting, measurement and control of emissions; pollution prevention; laws and regulation development; control strategy development; sources of air pollutants; emission inventories; compliance and enforcement; public participation; and environmental justice. The contractor shall recommend non-EPA content that may enhance overall effectiveness of the training. In addition, the course shall be designed to accomplish a preliminary strategic planning process for the South African Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. As noted in the Background, DEAT must develop a national framework for achieving the objectives of the Air Quality Bill. The contractor shall develop a process whereby DEAT can conduct a preliminary strategic planning effort as a prelude to developing a final national framework. For each topic listed above, the course attendees shall be given time to plan for how that topic fits into the national framework, and identify the next steps for implementing that aspect of their air quality management program. The contractor shall provide monthly teleconference updates on the progress of the course development to the Project Officer. This shall include a draft outline of the course content. The Project Officer will coordinate with DEAT, and EPA=s Office of International Affairs to determine the most adequate level of detail and the progression of course materials. The contractor shall deliver a draft instructor=s manual, student manual, and a compact disc with relevant resources. Documents may be in pdf or Microsoft Word format. TASK 2: Finalize Course Content - The contractor shall provide electronic versions of the course materials to be printed and copied by EPA for course delivery in the formats described above. The final formatting and editing will be done by the contractor and delivered "printer-ready" to EPA. Based on the feedback and consultation with the Project Officer, the contractor shall deliver final electronic documents for the Air Quality Management Course. This will include the final instructor's manual, student manuals and resource CD. The contractor shall also deliver a final plan for integrating the AQM Course training delivery with a strategic planning program. TASK 3: On-Site Course Delivery - The contractor, along with the Project Officer and two EPA staff members will deliver the AQM course and strategic planning program on-site in South Africa. The EPA staff in attendance will be air quality management generalists from the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards and the EPA's Office of International Affairs. USAID-Pretoria and DEAT will be responsible for making necessary arrangements for a facility and presentation equipment. The date is yet to be determined but will be no later than one week before the end of the project performance period. The final date of course delivery will be determined in consultation with the contractor, the Project Officer, DEAT and EPA's Office of International Affairs. The contractor may recommend the use of technology based communication tools where appropriate to take advantage of U.S. based experts in the course of the training. The contractor shall be responsible for making their own travel arrangements. NOTE: The cost of travel shall be included in the total proposal cost as a separate itemized line item. DELIVERY SCHEDULE: Task 1: Draft course outline - One month after award, Draft course materials - Three months after award, Task 2: Final course materials - five months after award, Task 3: Course delivery on-site in South Africa - within nine months after award. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS: Monthly - Teleconference progress reports - no later than the 15th of each month until final course materials are delivered. The government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer is lowest price technically acceptable. Offerors must satisfactorily meet all of the technical requirements to be considered "technically acceptable." Evaluation Factors: 1) (a) Technical approach in meeting the requirements of the Statement of Work (SOW) while exhibiting expert knowledge, understanding and proficiency in applying that approach. (b) The offeror must demonstrate the ability to prepare clear, concise, and informative written materials which will be evaluated by the organization for content and clarity and (c) The offeror must demonstrate knowledge and experience in the following areas: air quality managment; cross-cultural and/or international project design and implementation; adult learning and training techniques; effective presentation skills; and instructional design. 2) Past performance will be used for responsibility determinations. Each offeror submitting a technically acceptable proposal shall be evaluated on performance under existing and prior (within the past 3 years) contracts/subcontracts/orders for efforts similar to that described in the Statement of Work for this requirement. Proposals shall include a representative list of contracts/subcontracts/orders completed during the past three years, and contracts/subcontracts/orders currently in process, which are similar in scope and size to this requirement. For each contract/subcontract/order identified, include a brief synopsis which includes the date the work was performed, the client for whom the work was performed (include client name and telephone number), and a description of work performed. The offeror is authorized to provide information on problems encountered on the identified contracts and the offerors' corrective actions, if necessary. 3) Price - Award will be made to the offeror whose offer is the lowest price technically acceptable. All offerors are to include with their response a completed copy of provision 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items. The following FAR provisions apply to this solicitation: 52-212-1, Instructions to Offers/Commercial Items; 52.212-2, Evaluation-Commercial Items, The following FAR clauses apply to this acquisition: 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items, 52.246-11, Higher Level Contract Quality Requirement, 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders--Commercial Items and the following additional FAR clauses which are cited in clauses 52.212-5: 52.222-21, Prohibition of Segregated Facilities; 52.222-26, Equal Opportunity, 52.222-35, Affirmative Action for Special Disabled and Vietnam Era Veterans; 52.222-36 Affirmative Action for Handicapped Workers; 52.222-37, Employment Reports on Special Disabled Veterans and Veterans of the Vietnam Era; 52.222-41, Service Contract Act of 1965, as amended. Any applicable wage determination(s) (if required) will be made a part of the resultant purchase order. Technical questions are to be forwarded via email no later 8 December 2004 to the Contract Specialist at the following email address: kimble.joy@epa.gov. In addition to this Request for Quotation, offerors should check the web site for any updated information on EPA's web site at http://www.epa.gov/oam/rtp_cmd until the closing date. Arrow down to the REQUEST FOR QUOTATION section and click on the solicitation. Arrow down below that section to COMMERCIAL BUY CLAUSES AND FORMS which are provided for your convenience. Please submit two copies of the technical proposal and two copies of the price proposal to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, RTP-POD, 109 T.W. Alexander Dr., Attn: Joy Kimble, E105-02, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711. Courier Delivery Address is: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, RTP-POD, 4930 Page Road, Attn: Joy Kimble, E105-02, Research Triangle Park, NC 27703. All offers are due by 15 December 2004, 12:00 noon EST. No telephonic or faxed requests or offers will be honored.
- Record
- SN00716783-W 20041205/041203212230 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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