SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- Group Retirement and Financial Planning Training
- Notice Date
- 8/2/2007
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 624190
— Other Individual and Family Services
- Contracting Office
- Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Office of Financial Management-Procurement, Procurement Operations and Policy, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street, N.W., Washington, DC, 20581, UNITED STATES
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- CFHR-07-SO-0149
- Response Due
- 8/17/2007
- Archive Date
- 9/1/2007
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total Small Business
- Description
- 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; quotations are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. This solicitation (CFHR-07-SO-0149) is issued as a Request For Quotation (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-18. This acquisition is 100% set-aside for small business concerns. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 624190 with a small business size standard of $6.5 million. The duration of the contract shall be one year from the effective date of award and the contract will include one option year to be exercised at the sole discretion of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) pursuant to FAR Clause 52.217-9, Option to Extend the Term of the Contract (Mar 2000). As described in the Statement of Work which is a part of this synopsis/solicitation, the Contractor shall provide group retirement and financial counseling sessions, on the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS), to eligible CFTC employees. The provision at FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items (Sep 2006) applies to this acquisition. The provision at FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation-Commercial Items (Jan 1999) is applicable. The following technical evaluation criteria to be included in paragraph (a) of that provision, listed in descending order of importance, are: 1) Technical Understanding and Approach, 2) Corporate Experience & Past Performance, 3) Key Personnel. CFTC will also consider price in the award selection. The technical evaluation criteria, when combined, are significantly more important than price. However, as the merit of technical factors in competing quotations approaches equality, price will become increasingly more significant as an evaluation factor. Each quoter shall include a completed copy of the provision at FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items (Nov 2006) with its quotation. The clause at FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items (Feb 2007) applies to this acquisition. The clause at FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required To Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items (Jun 2007) applies to this acquisition. The following additional FAR clauses are also applicable to this acquisition: 52.219-6, Notice of Total Small Business Set-Aside (June 2003); 52.219-14, Limitations on Subcontracting (Dec 1996); 52.219-28 Post-Award Small Business Program Representation (Jun 2007); 52.222-3, Convict Labor (Jun 2003); 52.222-19, Child Labor?Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies (Jan 2006); 52.222-21, Prohibition of Segregated Facilities (Feb 1999); 52.222-26, Equal Opportunity (Mar 2007); 52.222-35, Equal Opportunity for Special Disabled Veterans, Veterans of the Vietnam Era, and Other Eligible Veterans (Sep 2006); 52.222-36, Affirmative Action for Workers with Disabilities (Jun 1998); 52.222-37, Employment Reports on Special Disabled Veterans, Veterans of the Vietnam Era, and Other Eligible Veterans (Sep 2006); 52.225-13, Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases (Feb 2006); 52.232-33, Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer?Central Contractor Registration (Oct 2003). The Contractor shall submit invoices for payment after completion of each training session. Travel - The Contracting Officer?s Technical Representative (COTR) must authorize all travel in advance thereof. CFTC will reimburse travel expenses to the Contractor for hotel accommodations, ground travel, meals and incidental expenses in an amount not exceeding Federal Travel Regulation limitations on a daily basis. Coach class airfare will also be reimbursed, subject to the proviso that follows. Airfare costs in excess of the lowest customary standard, coach, or equivalent airfare offered during normal business hours are unallowable except when such accommodations require circuitous routing, require travel during unreasonable hours, excessively prolong travel, result in increased cost that would offset transportation savings, are not reasonably adequate for the physical or medical needs of the traveler, or are not reasonably available to meet mission requirements. However, in order for airfare costs in excess of the above standard airfare to be allowable, the applicable condition(s) set forth above must be justified in writing to the satisfaction of the CFTC. Quotations must include: 1) Technical Understanding and Approach: Discuss your understanding of the statement of work and technical approach for accomplishing this requirement, including a discussion of methodology, brochures, pamphlets and other materials and presentations to be used in the sessions; provide samples of materials (maximum of 3 samples); and discuss capability of replacing key personnel (limit 6 pages); 2) Corporate Experience and Past Performance: Provide information on three (3) projects similar in scope, magnitude and complexity to this project that are currently being completed or have recently been completed, including a brief description of each project, point of contact name, a phone number and email address. An important factor indicating similarity to the scope of work will be the extent to which the cited projects involved providing services to federal agencies which are similar to those identified in the Statement of Work below; 3) Key Personnel: Provide a resume (s) for the person (s) proposed to perform the sessions under this requirement, including work and education history, that demonstrates the experience providing training services similar to the services which are identified in the Statement of Work below, and qualifications necessary to successfully perform the work outlined herein, and include supervisory reference information (name, phone number and email) from three (3) most recent positions (limit 2 pages); 4) Price: For the base year and option year provide the following: A. Fixed Price for each 2 day session per location (Washington, DC - 8 sessions; Chicago, IL - 2 sessions; New York, NY - 2 sessions; Kansas City, MO - 2 sessions); B. Total estimated travel cost for each location, if applicable; C. Total Cost (sum of fixed prices and total travel costs for each location). The Government anticipates awarding one purchase order resulting from this combined synopsis/solicitation to the responsible offeror whose quotation conforming to this synopsis/solicitation is determined to be the most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The provision at FAR 52.217-5, Evaluation of Options (Jul 1990) applies to this acquisition. The CFTC expects to evaluate quotations and award an order without conducting discussions and/or soliciting quotation revisions. Therefore, the quoter?s initial quotation should contain the quoter?s best terms from a price and technical standpoint. However, CFTC reserves the right to conduct discussions if later determined by the CFTC Contracting Officer to be necessary. CFTC reserves the right to interview any key personnel that are proposed for work on this requirement. All responsible sources may submit a quotation and will be considered by the agency. Numbered Note 1 is applicable to this acquisition. Quotations are due not later than 4:30 PM LOCAL TIME ON 8/20/2007, at the following location: Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Office of Financial Management, Attention: Sonda Owens, 1155 21st Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20581. Quotations may also be submitted via email to sowens@cftc.gov. Questions regarding this RFQ should be directed to Sonda Owens, Contract Specialist via email to sowens@cftc.gov, not later than 3:00PM on 8/10/2007. Statement of Work ? Group Retirement and Financial Planning Training The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has identified the need for a Contractor to provide group retirement and financial planning training on the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS). The CFTC has approximately 476 employees, located in five (5) cities throughout the United States (Headquarters office: Washington, DC; Regional offices: Chicago, IL; New York, NY; Kansas City, MO and Minneapolis, MN). These group sessions shall be geared toward Commission employees currently eligible for optional retirement or those who are within five (5) years of eligibility for optional retirement. Separate sessions shall be provided for FERS participants (attendees will only be FERS participants) and CSRS participants (attendees will only be CSRS participants). The CFTC anticipates that approximately 150 employees will fall within the eligibility categories for attendance at these sessions. The Contractor shall be responsible for training participants on a varied range of topics covering basic retirement eligibility, employee benefits, and the financial aspects of retirement. Topics covered during these sessions shall be geared toward providing the participants with the necessary resources to make well-informed decisions on issues crucial to retirement and financial planning. Specific topics to be covered in the sessions shall include: Retirement Eligibility; Creditable Service rules; FERS and CSRS Annuities (Computations); Deposits and Re-deposits; Survivors? Benefits; Social Security; Health and Life Insurance (FEHB, FEGLI); Long Term Care Insurance, including the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP); Taxation of Federal Annuities; Retirement and financial planning/investment considerations; Retirement Application Process; Retirement Processing and Time Frames; CSRS Offset, high-3 salary computations, survivor annuities, disability retirement and Medicare. The Contractor shall also address TSP asset allocation and diversification, detailed explanations of the different investment options available, investing outside of retirement and the impact of tax laws on investing, how to estimate taxes in retirement, the different options available for withdrawing from their TSP account, and other relevant financial management topics. Logistics: Each training course shall be held in two (2) consecutive day sessions (i.e. Monday & Tuesday or Tuesday & Wednesday, etc.) in a classroom setting, during normal business hours 8:00AM to 5:00PM. The Contractor shall allot time at the end of each session for answering employee questions. The CFTC anticipates that there will be a maximum of 30 participants in each 2-day session. The contractor shall provide materials for 30 attendees per session. The CFTC anticipates (but does not guarantee) the need for a total of fourteen (14) 2-day training sessions (i.e. 28 days) during the base year of this contract. The specific dates for each of the sessions will be determined by the CFTC Contracting Officer Technical Representative (COTR) with the contractor. The Contractor shall discuss with the CFTC COTR, the course schedule, syllabus, methodologies, and background information about the audience and the Commission prior to conducting the training. The number of sessions the CFTC anticipates for each regional location is as follows: Chicago Regional Office, Chicago, IL ? two 2-day sessions; one (1) session for FERS and one (1) session for CSRS participants (training may be conducted via teleconference for the Minneapolis, MN employee, during one of the Chicago 2-day sessions); New York Regional Office, New York, NY ?two 2-day sessions; one (1) session for FERS and one (1) session for CSRS participants; Kansas City, MO ? two 2-day sessions; one (1) session for FERS and one (1) session for CSRS participants; DC Headquarters Regional Office eight (8), 2-day sessions; four (4) sessions for FERS and four (4) sessions for CSRS participants. Sessions provided at the Headquarters office may be offered via telephone or videoconferencing to regional office employees. Travel: The CFTC will not provide reimbursement for local travel expenses (i.e. metro, mileage, parking, taxi fares, etc) of companies that are located within the commuting area (50 mile radius) of where they are providing services (e.g., if the company is located in Washington, DC, local travel expenses will not be paid when providing services at the DC Headquarters office). The contractor shall be responsible for making his/her own travel arrangements for travel to the CFTC offices. Travel costs shall be reimbursed in accordance with Federal Travel Regulations and the clause entitled ?Travel? outlined above. Government Responsibilities: The CFTC will handle conference room arrangements for the training/counseling sessions, including obtaining a telephone with a dedicated number for the contractor at the Washington, DC Headquarters location, and will advertise the training/counseling sessions to employees through various means.
- Record
- SN01359750-W 20070804/070802220135 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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