SOURCES SOUGHT
D -- National Residential Commercial Agricultural Estimating Software Support - Request for Information
- Notice Date
- 8/8/2012
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 511210
— Software Publishers
- Contracting Office
- Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency, Acquisition Management Division, Contracts Operations Branch, 1280 Maryland Avenue, SW, Portals Bldg., Room 508A, Washington, District of Columbia, 20250-0567
- ZIP Code
- 20250-0567
- Solicitation Number
- AG-3151-RFI-12-NationalResidentialCommercialAgriculturalEstimatingSoftwareSupport
- Archive Date
- 8/29/2012
- Point of Contact
- Jeffrey McRae, Phone: 2026904030, Billy Rowland, Phone: 202 720 9356
- E-Mail Address
-
Jeffrey.Mcrae@wdc.usda.gov, billy.rowland@wdc.usda.gov
(Jeffrey.Mcrae@wdc.usda.gov, billy.rowland@wdc.usda.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- National Residential, Commercial, and Agricultural Estimating Software Support In accordance with the provisions of Federal Acquisition Regulations Part 52.215-3 Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes (Oct 1997), this request for information (RFI) is intended to provide information relevant to a possible future solicitation. 52.215-3 -- Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes (Oct 1997) (a) The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this solicitation or to otherwise pay for the information solicited except as an allowable cost under other contracts as provided in subsection 31.205-18, Bid and proposal costs, of the Federal Acquisition Regulation. (b) Although "proposal" and "offeror" are used in this Request for Information, your response will be treated as information only. It shall not be used as a proposal. (c) This solicitation is issued for the purpose of: [state purpose]. (End of Provision) Respondents are invited to provide comments on the content of this announcement to include suggestions for improving the scope of a possible solicitation to ensure that every effort is made to adequately address the technical challenges described below. Responses to this request may be used to support development of, and subsequently be incorporated within, a future solicitation and therefore must be available for unrestricted public distribution. Neither proprietary, nor classified concepts nor information should be included in the responses. The following sections of this announcement contain details of the scope of technical efforts of interest, along with instructions for the submission of responses. Background & Scope The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Farm Service Agency (FSA), has a need for National Residential, Commercial, and Agricultural Estimating Software Support. As such, USDA/FSA is seeking information on available offerings that can provide: • unlimited cost approach reports via desktop application. • current costs on agricultural/farm and commercial improvements, structures and equipment. • an application that allows for specific building data to be entered and also allow USDA FSA to pull all related cost figures, calculate totals, and produce entire reports. • an annual subscription that provides quarterly updates and unlimited use of free technical support services. • an online cost estimator to estimate building replacement costs • a cost database that's includes, at a minimum, o current cost information for 500 component costs and 100 building types o costs for a variety of yard improvements, including fencing and gates, transfer lanes, corrals, pens and stalls, dairy equipment, etc. o current costs on grain elevators, waste disposal systems, milking equipment, egg collectors, livestock stalls and pens, storage containers, feed lots, etc. o Updates should include indexes to make historical costs current and geographic multipliers to localize costs throughout the U.S. and U.S. Territories. • capability to interpolate costs automatically between quality levels; enter an unlimited number of occupancies, classes, ranks and story heights per section; trend costs to different dates; save an unlimited number of estimates in the database; switch between the Assessor and General Appraiser versions; and process multiple estimates at once. • capability to calculate valuation of any commercial structure, industrial building, agricultural property, rural yard improvement, multiple dwelling compounds, etc. • capability for depreciation estimates to provide efficient improvement cost estimates • capability to determine depreciation for residential, agricultural and commercial improvements • capability to calculate replacement cost for residential, agricultural and commercial improvements, fixtures etc. • structures and fixtures that include, at a minimum: o Barns, including one- and two-story, lofted, bank, furrowing to finish and other special-purpose barns o Storage buildings and commodity warehouses including bulk fertilizer storage buildings o Silos, including concrete stave and poured, glass lined, steel and horizontal (bunker) o Specialized buildings including stables, arenas and poultry buildings o Special use buildings including milk houses, milking parlors and greenhouses o Storage structures including granaries, corn cribs and other crop storage structures o A wide variety of equipment including scales, stalls and tie stalls, stanchions, silo unloaders, barn cleaners and other barn fixtures and equipment Responses to this RFI should be as succinct as possible while providing specific information that addresses the following questions: 1. What is your proposed method for approach? 2. What are the compelling reasons to use your proposed approach? 3. How will your approach handle this potential requirement? 4. How will your approach be applied? 5. What is the timescale needed to demonstrate progress? 6. What are the resources needed? 7. Are supporting technologies readily available or does new technology need to be created? Preparation Instructions to Respondents USDA solicits respondents to submit ideas related to this topic for use by the Government in formulating a potential solicitation. USDA requests that submittals briefly and clearly describe the potential approach or concept, outline critical issues, and comment on the expected performance, robustness, and estimated cost of the proposed approach. This announcement contains all of the information required to submit a response. Responses shall have the following formatting requirements: 1. A one page cover sheet that identifies the title, organization(s), respondent's technical and administrative points of contact - including names, addresses, phone and fax numbers, and email addresses. 2. A substantive, focused, one-half page executive summary; 3. A description (limited to 15 pages in minimum 12 point Times New Roman font, appropriate for single-sided, single-spaced 8.5 by 11 inch paper, with 1-inch margins) of the technical challenges and suggested approach(es); Submission Instructions to Respondents Responses to this RFI are due no later than 9:00 am Eastern on Tuesday, August 14, 2012. All submissions must be electronically submitted via email to billy.rowland@wdc.usda.gov with a cc: to jeffrey.mcrae@wdc.usda.gov. Inquiries to this RFI must be submitted to billy.rowland@wdc.usda.gov with a cc: to jeffrey.mcrae@wdc.usda.gov. Do not send questions with proprietary content. No telephonic inquiries will be accepted. DISCLAIMERS AND IMPORTANT NOTES This is an RFI issued solely for information and new investment planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation. Respondents are advised that USDA is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received, or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted under this RFI. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. It is the respondents' responsibility to ensure that the submitted material has been approved for public release by the organization that funded whatever research is referred to in the response. The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or to otherwise pay for the information solicited, nor is the Government obligated to issue a solicitation based on responses received. Neither proprietary nor classified concepts nor information should be included in the submittal. Input on technical aspects of the responses may be solicited by USDA from non-Government consultants/experts who are bound by appropriate non-disclosure requirements.
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