SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- ARABIC TO ENGLISH INTERPRETATION SERVICE PROVIDER
- Notice Date
- 5/14/2007
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 541930
— Translation and Interpretation Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, Office of the Secretary, Commerce Acquisition Solutions, Office of the Secretary, 14th & Constitution Avenue NW Room 6514, Washington, DC, 20230, UNITED STATES
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- SA13017RP0010
- Response Due
- 5/18/2007
- Archive Date
- 6/2/2007
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total Small Business
- Description
- This is a solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. The solicitation number is SA13017RP0010. The solicitation is issued as a Request for Proposal (RFP). This solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-09. The full text of clauses referenced herein may be accessed electronically at http://www.acqnet.gov/far/. The requirements will be fulfilled using the Simplified Acquisition procedures, Part 13 of the FAR, and the test program authorized in FAR 13.5 for acquisitions of commercial items not in excess of $10 Million. The NAICS code is 541930 and the associated small business size standard is $6.5M. The Government shall award one fixed price task order type contract as a result of this RFP. THIS IS A 100% TOTAL SMALL BUSINESS SET-ASIDE Request for Proposal. 1352.211-70 STATEMENT OF WORK/SPECIFICATIONS, January 2007. BACKGROUND. The Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP) of the United States Department of Commerce, Office of the General Counsel, is a technical assistance provider working on the development and implementation of laws and international agreements affecting trade and investment in over 35 countries worldwide including the Middle East and North Africa. CLDP is supporting the U.S. Government?s Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) by providing technical assistance to a group of countries in the Middle East to improve their legislative and regulatory frameworks, and ultimately, to facilitate the region?s preparedness for the Middle East Free Trade Area (MEFTA). As trade and commerce increases in the Middle East and the countries in this region expand their presence in the global market, it is important that their business and legal professionals have knowledge and understanding of complex commercial law. 1. CONTRACTOR RESPONSIBILITIES: The Contractor shall provide the following services: 1.. Simultaneous interpretation for CLDP?s staff and advisors from Arabic to English and from English to Arabic. 2.. Travel with CLDP staff and advisors to the Middle East/North Africa and within the United States. 3. Interpretation will include topics such as but not limited to: a. Oil and gas legal matters, and b. Presentations and discussions related to hydrocarbon laws All interested offerors shall provide a quote for the following Contract Line Item Numbers CLIN: 2. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE CLIN 0001 ? BASE PERIOD. ? Date of Award through April 30, 2008. CLIN 1001 -OPTION PERIOD I - This is an option period of performance. Period of performance for this option period is May 1, 2008 through April 30, 2009. CLIN 2001 -OPTION PERIOD II - This is an option period of performance. Period of performance for this option period is May 1, 2009 through April 30, 2010. 3. Minimum and Maximum Contract Amounts: During the period specified in section 2, the Government shall place orders totaling a minimum of 60 hours and a maximum of 200 hours. 4. DELIVERABLES Deliverable items required under this contract/purchase order include: a) Prompt and accurate simultaneous interpretation as requested by CLDP. b) The ability to travel within the Middle East/ North Africa region with relatively short notice, not less than one week, as well as possible travel within the United States. Travel will not exceed two weeks per trip and will not exceed six times per year. c) All deliverables are to be mailed to: Ms. Sana Akili, International Program Specialist, Commercial Law Development Program, Mail Stop 5875, U.S. Department of Commerce 14th Street and Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20230. Contact Information. Tel: 202-482-9032, Fax: 202-482-0006, e-mail: sakili@doc.gov. 5. Travel Requirements and Travel Expenses - During the period of the contract, the Contractor is expected to travel as needed by CLDP. A third party CLDP Contractor for logistical services shall handle the Contractor?s travel arrangements. All travel must be approved in advance by CLDP and must be in accordance with Federal Travel Regulations (FTR). The Contractor is expected to take reasonable steps to mitigate the amount of travel expenses. Travel is subject to the Federal Travel regulations which can be accessed at: http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/channelView.do?pageTypeId=8199&channelPage=%2Fep%2Fchannel%2FgsaOverview.jsp&channelId=-14863 If questions arise concerning whether an individual expenditure will be reimbursed, please consult with CLDP before incurring the expense. 6. Benefits. No benefits are provided under this contract. 7. FACTORS The Contractor shall furnish personnel with the following qualifications and experience that address the below technical factors in order for this contract to be awarded. Factor 1 - TECHNICAL A. Qualifications/Requirements Offerors shall provide a brief capability statement not to exceed two 2-pages which address each criterion listed below. The Contractor: 1.a. Must have experience in Translation from English into Arabic. 1.b. Must have native fluency in Arabic. 1.c. Must have a law degree from an English speaking country and/or law degree from an Arabic speaking country preferred but not required. 2.a. Translation from Arabic into English. 2.b. Law degree from Arabic speaking country and/or law degree from English speaking country preferred but not required. B. Resume limited to three (3) pages. Factor 2. PAST PERFORMANCE. A. Must have proven successful experience (provide references) as translator (from English into Arabic) of legal documents related to the hydrocarbon sector. References should be from credible US or internationally recognized entities. B. Proven successful experience (provide references) as translator (from Arabic into English) of legal documents related to the hydrocarbon sector. References should be from credible US or internationally recognized entities. C. Offeror shall provide references from customers that have had work performed, similar in nature, to the proposed work. References will be asked about performance of the contract as it relates to quality of services and timeliness of performance. Offerors must provide a minimum two 2-reference, for projects within the past two 2-years. Factor 3 ? Price. The price evaluation will determine whether the proposed prices are realistic, complete, and reasonable in relation to the requirements in the description of work. The price evaluation will determine whether the proposed prices are realistic, complete, and reasonable in relation to the requirement in the Contractor Responsibilities and Contractor Deliverables. The price bid should be submitted on a price per word basis. 8. Price/Technical Proposal Trade-Off The Government will perform the price/technical tradeoff of each proposal to determine which proposal represents the ?best value? to the Government, price/cost and other factors considered. ?Best value? is defined as the offer that results in the most advantageous acquisition decision for the Government. Technical quality in proposals is more important than price/cost. The Government reserves the right to award to other than the lowest evaluated price/cost. The analysis of all proposals will be performed through an integrated assessment and trade-off analysis between technical and price/cost factors. Where proposals are essentially equal technically, price/cost becomes much more important. The Government may enter into discussions if it deems discussions to be necessary; however, the Offeror shall assume that the Government will not enter discussions before awarding the contract. 9. ADDITIONAL CONTRACTOR RESPONSIBILITES In addition to other duties included in this contract, the Contractor shall: a. Advise CLDP, at the earliest possible time, if the Contractor is not able to perform the contract for any reason; b. Report to the CLDP office, at the earliest convenience, any issues that may impair the Contractor?s work and the performance of the contract; c. Not provide information on the Contractor?s work to any individual or entity unless authorized in advance and in writing by CLDP. 10. FAR CLAUSES - FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions - Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition. FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders - Commercial Items applies to this acquisition: 52.203-6, Restrictions on Subcontractor Sales to the Government, Jul 1995, FAR 52.213-3 ? Offeror Representations and Certifications, Other clauses included are FAR 52.216-18, Ordering, Oct 1995, FAR 52.217-9, Option to extend the Term of the Contract, Mar 2000, and Department of Commerce Agency-Level Protest Procedures Level Above the Contracting Officer, Dec 1996, which can be found at http://oamweb.osec.doc.gov/CAPPS_car.html. 11. Conflict of Interest and Standards of Conduct Guidelines The Contractor represents CLDP, the U.S. Department of Commerce and, by extension, the United States Government during his or her assignment. The Contractor must protect the integrity of the work of CLDP by honoring the conflict of interest and standards of conduct set forth below. The Contractor must adhere to all applicable ethics codes in effect in his/her respective jurisdictions and professions. Contractors who are Federal employees also must adhere to applicable federal conflict of interest statutes and standards of conduct. In addition, the Contractor must comply with the following standards: a. The Contractor shall not seek, receive, accept, or agree to receive any compensation beyond what may be provided by the Contractor?s regular employer or by CLDP for legal or advisory services to be rendered, either personally or by another, as agent, attorney, or otherwise in connection with the CLDP programs; b. The Contractor shall not participate personally or substantially in any matter in which, to the Contractor?s knowledge, the Contactor, his or her colleagues, partner, spouse, children, or the firm in which he or she is an employee or partner, as the case may be, has a potential financial or other conflict of interest; c. The Contractor shall not undertake private promotional activities during, or in conjunction with, any CLDP activity; d. The Contractor shall not directly or indirectly use, or allow the use of, official, confidential, or proprietary information obtained through or in connection with his or her work for CLDP if such information has not been made available to the general public; e. The Contractor shall advise CLDP, in writing and as soon as possible, of any issues involving the Contactor or his or her firm or agency that may result in any actual or apparent conflict of interest or that the Contractor knows or has reason to believe may reflect unfavorably on, or cause embarrassment to CLDP or the United States Government; f. The Contractor shall not engage in any activities which have a negative impact on his or her objectivity, performance or effectiveness while serving in his or her capacity under this contract; and g. The Contractor shall not engage in any outside activities which may discredit, or cause unfavorable criticism of, the United States Government or the government of the country with which the Contractor is working. 12. REQUIREMENTS FOR SUBMISSION to this RFP, Offerors are required to submit the following information by the date and time specified for receipt of offers: Factor 1 ? Technical - Resumes, not to exceed 2-pages in accordance with the Technical evaluation factor. Factor 2- Past Performance - provide a minimum of 2-references, per proposed translator, for projects within the past 2-years. Each reference shall not exceed 1- page per reference and shall include a brief description of the requirements for which the contractor has performed similar assessments, in accordance with the Past Performance evaluation factor. Include the company/agency name, Point of contact, telephone number; fax number and e-mail address, contract data including the contract number, dollar value, and period of performance of the effort, Factor 3 ? Price, Offerors are required to submit a firm fixed unit price for each CLIN including optional CLINs. The Government contemplates award of a Requirements Contract, FAR 52.216-21, resulting form this RFP. Vendor must be actively registered in the Central Contractors Registration, CCR, in accordance with 52.204-7. 13. EVALUATION METHOD - The evaluation factors are: FACTOR 1 ? Technical; FACTOR 2 ? Past Performance; FACTOR 3 ? Price. Factor 1 is more important than Factor 2. Factor 1 ? Technical and Factor 2- Past Performance are significantly collectively more important than Factor 3 ? Price. FACTOR 1 ? TECHNICAL, including key personnel resumes with qualifications meeting Number 7 Factor 1 ? Technical requirements A and B, not exceeding 5 pages. FACTOR 2 - PAST PERFORMANCE, meeting Factor 2- Past Performance Offerors must provide a minimum two 2-references, for projects within the past two 2-years meeting Number 7 FACTOR 2 Past Performance A, B, and C requirements. FACTOR 3 - PRICE. The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible Offeror whose quote conforming to the solicitation is the most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. Each offer will be reviewed for their relative technical strengths and weaknesses in order to make a best value determination along with the price. The price evaluation will determine whether the proposed prices are realistic, complete, and reasonable in relation to the requirements in the description of work. The price evaluation will determine whether the proposed prices are realistic, complete, and reasonable in relation to the requirement in the Contractor Responsibilities and Contractor Deliverables. The price bid should be submitted on a price per word basis. 14. INVOICING The contractor shall submit a monthly billing invoices/statement. The invoice shall include all services completed for the month. One 1-original of each invoice shall be submitted on an SF-1034 Public Voucher for Purchases and Services Other Than Personal. The SF-1034 can be located on the GSA Forms Library website: http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/formslibrary.do?formType=SF Questions regarding payment should be direct to the Contracting Officer identified in Standard Form 1449 of this contract. The contractor shall provide an original invoice for payment to the Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST, Accounts Payable Office at: NIST Accounts Payable Office, Bldg 101, Room A-836 MS, 1621; 100 Bureau Drive; Gaithersburg MD, 20899. Telephone: 301-975-2261; Fax: 301-975-8283; Email: invoice@nist.gov. NIST will forward the invoice and a payment authorization form, NIST, 162 Form or other document/voucher authorizing Government payment) to the COR or COTR. The COR/COTR will return the invoice and the signed payment authorization form to NIST for payment. A copy of the monthly invoice shall be submitted in accordance with the payment schedule identified on the Form 1449. . De minimis exception: In the event that a given month?s invoice does not exceed $150, the Contractor may forgo submission of an invoice for that month and may submit the corresponding costs in the invoice for the following month. 15. CAR CLAUSE 1350.201-71 CONTRACTING OFFICER'S TECHNICAL REPRESENTATIVE (COTR) (FEB 2005) a. Harry Hill is hereby designated as the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR). The COTR may be changed at any time by the Government without prior notice to the Contractor by a unilateral modification to the Contract. The COTR is located at: Commercial Law Development Program, Mail Stop 5875, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20230, Tel: 202-482-2400, Fax: 202-482-0006 e-mail: Hhill@doc.gov b. The responsibilities and limitations of the COTR are as follows: (1) The COTR is responsible for the technical aspects of the project and serves as technical liaison with the Contractor. The COTR is also responsible for the final inspection and acceptance of all reports, and such other responsibilities as may be specified in the contract. (2) The COTR is not authorized to make any commitments or otherwise obligate the Government or authorize any changes which affect the Contract price, terms or conditions. Any Contractor request for changes shall be referred to the Contracting Officer directly or through the COTR. No such changes shall be made without the expressed prior authorization of the Contracting Officer (CO). The CO may designate assistant or alternate COTR(s) to act for the COTR by naming such assistant/alternate(s) in writing and transmitting a copy of such designation to the Contractor. (End of clause) 16. Provision at 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial, applies to this acquisition. In accordance with FAR 52.212-1, Offerors must show the solicitation number, the time specified in the solicitation for receipt of offers, the name, address, and telephone number of the Offerors, a technical description of the items being offered in sufficient detail to evaluate compliance with the requirements, price, remit to address, if different than mailing address. Offerors must include a completed copy of the provision at FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications - Commercial Items, with its quote. If the offer is not submitted on the SF 1449, include a statement specifying the extent of agreement with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in this solicitation. FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation-Commercial Items applies to this acquisition. The Government anticipates making one award under this solicitation. However, DOC is under no obligation to make more than one award, in fact, may not make any award under this solicitation. 17. Response The Defense Priorities and Allocations System, DPAS, does not apply to this acquisition. Offerors shall submit 1-electronic proposals on CD-ROM, with three 3-original paper copies of its offer to U.S. Department of Commerce, CAS, OS Business Solutions Team, Sol: SA13017RP0010, 14th & Constitution Ave. N.W., Room 6520, Washington, DC 20230, Attn: Wendy M. Clare. The closing date for receipt of proposals is 12:00 PM local time, May 18, 2007. FAX and EMAIL SUBMISSIONS OF PROPOSALS SHALL NOT BE ACCEPTED. Questions regarding this acquisition should be forwarded to Wendy M. Clare: 202-482-5338; email wclare@doc.gov. ALL QUESTIONS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY EMAIL. NO QUESTIONS WILL BE ENTERTAINED AFTER MAY 16, 2007 AT 12:00 PM LOCAL TIME. This Solicitation shall not be construed as a commitment of any kind.
- Place of Performance
- Address: Commercial Law Development Program, Mail Stop 5875, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, DC
- Zip Code: 20230
- Country: UNITED STATES
- Zip Code: 20230
- Record
- SN01293890-W 20070516/070514220239 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |