SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Embassy Jerusalem & Consulate Tel Aviv - Calculate Israeli Income Tax & Health Insurance Premiums fo Locally Employed Staff (LES)
- Notice Date
- 6/14/2018
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541213
— Tax Preparation Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of State, Office of Acquisitions, Acquisition Management, 1735 N. Lynn St., Arlington, Virginia, 22209, United States
- ZIP Code
- 22209
- Solicitation Number
- 19AQMM18Q0098
- Archive Date
- 7/6/2018
- Point of Contact
- Richard d. Medlin, Phone: 703 875-4593, Don Schlienz, Phone: 703 875-5363
- E-Mail Address
-
medlinrd@state.gov, Schlienzdf@state.gov
(medlinrd@state.gov, Schlienzdf@state.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- This is a U.S. Department of State (DoS) SOURCES SOUGHT to identify vendors which can provide commercial services in accordance with the information described in this announcement. The resulting procurement will be prepared in accordance with the format in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. The below is for information purposes only. The NAICS code is 541213 Tax Preparation Services and the size standard in millions of U.S. dollars is $19.0. The Israel Government requires the Department of State (DoS) U.S. Embassy Jerusalem and U.S. Consulate Tel Aviv, Human Resource Offices (HROs) to collect and submit Israel Income Tax withholdings and National Insurance Institute (NII) premiums for Locally Employed staff (LES). U.S. Embassy Jerusalem and U.S. Consulate Tel Aviv business units function independently of one another. The Contractor shall provide all services to both business units and all work material provided will be respective to the business unit which provided the data to be processed. A Locally Employed Staff (LES) may be an Israeli citizen, Israeli/American dual-national, or a Jerusalem ID holder. 1)The Contractor shall utilize a system which calculates each LES income tax withholding and NII social security for LES biweekly pay periods and non-standard NII calculations and perform the following services: 1) Collect and input data for all LES, including the “101 form” as required; 2) Provide monthly tax, pension and social security withholdings reports calculated from employees’ wages for each pay period (as defined in section 5.2). Provide “102” reports (summary employer’s withholdings for all its employees) in accordance with Israeli statutory provisions with the following exception: The employee contribution for NII calculations requires a special formula to account for employer contributions. For purposes of the contract, employees contribute 32% of the total required NII contribution of 19.5% of their pay, and the employer contributes 68% of the total contribution of 19.5% of total pay; 3) Prepare standard Israeli employee tax and NII forms which are required by the ITA or NII to establish the correct tax rates and eligibility of other government benefits; 4) Monitor Israeli taxation regulations and laws, national insurance regulations, and Israeli pension law and advise Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) of appropriate and needed adjustments to individual employees’ withholding calculations. Provide COR an update on changes in Israeli tax legislation which impacts employee tax, pension, and other benefits; 5) Designate customer service representative(s) who speak English, Hebrew and Arabic to provide guidance on income tax and national insurance codes, responsibilities, obligations, and prevailing practices. Resolve LES issues related to tax and NII withholding, including regular onsite visits for counseling and email for communications. Process: 1) Using the DOS provided comma-separated-values (CSV) payroll files, the Contractor shall calculate tax and NII withholdings after reducing the employee’s tax liability by any tax credit points, for each pay period and send it back to DOS for processing of actual withholdings. 2) DOS transmits the files prepared by the Contractor to the U.S. Government Global Financial Service Center in Bangkok which performs the actual payments and withholdings and releases payments to the employees and other associated accounts; 3) CSV payroll files sent by DOS to the Contractor for calculation each pay period must be returned complete for tax, and NII withholding, within 7 calendar days; 4) Prepare bi-weekly and monthly “102” reports using employee withholding calculations from previous pay periods that are assigned to a particular calendar month (Note: The 26 pay periods are spread over 12 calendar months). The assignment of pay periods to particular calendar months is determined by DOS and is provided to the Contractor at the beginning of the calendar year. 5) Correct errors in tax withholdings calculation as result of an internal Contactor error or when DOS provided incorrect input; 6) Prepare and submit all National Insurance and income tax forms as required, including, but not limited to, form “161” (for severance), military leave form, work injury forms, unemployment forms, and form “106” (final summary of income and tax withholdings for the year for each employee) as is required by standard regulatory procedures in Israel; 7) Prepare monthly paper pay statements for employees and provide employees with individualized ISO 27001 controlled access to on-line pay slips; 8) Maintain the capability and store, retrieve and provide all Contractor work product (e.g. administrative documents, electronic files, etc.) that are created during the contract period by the Contractor upon COR request. All files, records and correspondence that have Personal Identifiable Information shall be kept private and secure, and appropriately marked; 9) Furnish digital copies (via disc media) of all records files related to the contract to the DOS within 30 days of end of contract performance; 10) Destroy all data provided by the Contractor upon completion of contract but not before the satisfaction of the COR as provided in writing. Military Leave Benefits: 1) Calculate military leave benefits, based on Israeli Defense Force documents provided by DOS; and, 2) Document the military leave benefit on the appropriate standard government form, which DOS will submit to NII for reimbursement from the Government of Israel (social security). Deliverables: 1) Submit draft withholding for three consecutive pay periods to be determined by the COR at the start of the contract; 2) Live withholding of income tax and NII contributions for LES payroll based on a start date of _____(TBD)______, and subsequently on a bi-weekly basis; and, 3) Provide separate invoices to Embassy Jerusalem and Consulate General Tel Aviv. A pay period is 14 calendar days, and the first day of a pay period is Sunday. There are 26 pay periods in a year. The normal workweek has Saturday and Sunday as rest days. The Vendor's information must include: • Information and representation and certifications described in FAR 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors--Commercial Items (Oct 2015); • Vendor information response is limited to 5 written pages via email or commercially available web link which demonstrates the above expertise/qualification, facility • Descriptive Literature as described in FAR 52.214-21 (Apr 2002); • Name and address of vendor, name and title, including contact information of vendor including System for Award Management (SAM) Registration with current representations and certifications. Israeli business license to provide payroll services. Provision FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation—Commercial Items is applicable and the specific evaluation criteria as a follows: The Government will make award to the responsible vendor whose quote conforms to the requirements of the request for this RFQ and is evaluated as being the most advantageous to the Government, cost or price and other factors considered. For this solicitation, past performance is the most important factor and technical quality is the second most important factor and these factors are significantly more important than cost or price. Award will not be automatically determined by numerical calculation or formula relationship between cost or price and past performance and technical merit. As past performance and technical merit of the vendors’ quotes become more equal, the total proposed price for the quote and all option periods may become the determining factor. The Contracting Officer will determine what trade-off between technical merit and cost or price promises the greatest value to the Government, cost or price and other factors considered. (xi) FAR clause 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions—Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition and a statement regarding any addenda to the clause. (xii) FAR clause 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required To Implement Statutes or Executive Orders—Commercial Items - the following FAR clauses, which are incorporated in this solicitation by reference, to implement provisions of law or Executive orders applicable to acquisitions of commercial items: 52.209-10, Prohibition on Contracting with Inverted Domestic Corporations (Nov 2015) 52.224-1 Privacy Act Notification (APR 1984) 52.224-2 Privacy Act (APR 1984) 52.224-3 Privacy Training (JAN 2017) 52.233-3, Protest After Award (Aug 1996) 52.233-4, Applicable Law for Breach of Contract Claim (Oct 2004 (b) The Contractor shall comply with the FAR clauses in this paragraph (b) that the Contracting Officer has indicated as being incorporated in this contract by reference to implement provisions of law or Executive orders applicable to acquisitions of commercial items: 52.203-6, Restrictions on Subcontractor Sales to the Government (Sept 2006), with Alternate I (Oct 1995) 52.203-13, Contractor Code of Business Ethics and Conduct (Oct 2015) 52.204-10, Reporting Executive Compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards (Oct 2015) 52.204-15, Service Contract Reporting Requirements for Indefinite-Delivery Contracts (Jan 2014) 52.209-9, Updates of Publicly Available Information Regarding Responsibility Matters (Jul 2013) 52.222-3, Convict Labor (June 2003) 52.222-19, Child Labor--Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies (Feb 2016 52.222-21, Prohibition of Segregated Facilities (Apr 2015). 52.222-26, Equal Opportunity (Apr 2015) 52.222-35, Equal Opportunity for Veterans (Oct 2015) 52.222-36, Equal Opportunity for Workers with Disabilities (Jul 2014) 52.222-37, Employment Reports on Veterans (Feb 2016) 52.222-40, Notification of Employee Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act (Dec 2010) 52.222-50, Combating Trafficking in Persons (Mar 2015) (ii) Alternate I (Mar 2015) of 52.222-50 52.223-18, Encouraging Contractor Policies to Ban Text Messaging While Driving (Aug 2011) 52.225-3, Buy American--Free Trade Agreements--Israeli Trade Act (May 2014) (43) 52.225-5, Trade Agreements (Feb 2016) 52.225-13, Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases (June 2008) 52.232-33, Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer--System for Award Management (Jul 2013) 52.232-34, Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer--Other than System for Award Management (Jul 2013) (c) The Contractor shall comply with the FAR clauses in this paragraph (c), applicable to commercial services, that the Contracting Officer has indicated as being incorporated in this contract by reference to implement provisions of law or Executive orders applicable to acquisitions of commercial items: 52.222-17, Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers (May 2014) 52.203-13, Contractor Code of Business Ethics and Conduct (Oct 2015) 52.219-8, Utilization of Small Business Concerns (Oct 2014) 52.222-21, Prohibition of Segregated Facilities (Apr 2015) 52.222-26, Equal Opportunity (Apr 2015) (E.O. 11246). 52.222-35, Equal Opportunity for Veterans (Oct 2015) (38 U.S.C. 4212). 52.222-36, Equal Opportunity for Workers with Disabilities (Jul 2014) (29 U.S.C. 793). 52.222-37, Employment Reports on Veterans (Feb 2016) (38 U.S.C. 4212) 52.222-40, Notification of Employee Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act (Dec 2010) (B) Alternate I (Mar 2015) of 52.222-50 52.222-53, Exemption from Application of the Service Contract Labor Standards to Contracts for Certain Services-Requirements (May 2014) 52.247-64, Preference for Privately Owned U.S.-Flag Commercial Vessels (Feb 2006) (xiii) The following additional FAR and DOSAR contract requirement(s) or terms and conditions (such as contract financing arrangements or warranty requirements) determined by the contracting officer to be necessary for this acquisition and consistent with customary commercial practices: 52.225-14 Inconsistency Between English Version and Translation of Contract (Feb 2000) 52.237-3 Continuity of Services (Jan 1991) 52.216-18 Ordering (Oct 1995) 52.216-22 Indefinite Quantity (Oct 1995) 52.232-1 Payments (Apr 1984) 52.247-17 Charges (Apr 1984) (xiv) The resulting contract will not contain Defense Priorities and Allocations System (DPAS) and assigned rating.
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