Dept of State, A/SDBU, SA-6, Room 633, Washington, DC 20522-0602.

S -- LOCAL GUARD SERVICES SOL NO RFP NUMBER. DUE 010696 POC Anthony Jones, Small Business Specialist, tel 703-875-6822, fax 703- 875-6825. The U.S. Department of State is seeking expressions of interest from U.S. small businesses interested in attending a seminar to be held on March 15, 1996. This Request for Expressions of Interest is restricted to U.S. small businesses, as defined by the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631), which possess the necessary qualifications to perform overseas local guard services at various U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide. The guards are required for crowd and public access control. Guards screen all persons and vehicles entering official USG overseas office locations and provide security at residences of embassy personnel. In an effort to increase competition and to comply with PL 101-246, Section 136(f), which encourages use of U.S. small and minority firms to provide overseas embassy local guard services, where practicable, the Department of State will be conducting a seminar on ''Competing for Overseas Local Guard Service Contracts'' on Friday, March 15, 1996. The seminar will be held in Department of State Annex 6, Room L-600, 1700 No. Lynn St., Arlington, VA. Interested U.S. small businesses are invited to participate by FAXing an expression of interest to the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, 703/875-6825. For purposes of the guard service industry, the Standard Industrial Code defining a small business is SIC 7381. Firms with average gross annual receipts over their last three full fiscal years not exceeding $9 million are considered small. SMALL BUSINESSES INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING IN COMPETITION FOR LOCAL GUARD SERVICE CONTRACTS SHOULD NOTE THE FOLLOWING: Most solicitations for local guard services are issued by the U.S. embassy/consulate (post) at which the services will be performed, or occasionally by one of the Department's Regional Procurement and Support Offices located in Miami, Florida and Bonn, Germany. The contracting authority for issuance of solicitation, evaluation of offers, award and contract administration resides with the post's contracting officer. All solicitations are negotiated, time and materials contracts, without exception. Payments may be made in U.S. dollars. Repatriation of profit restrictions may exit in some countries. There may also exist impediments in obtaining business licenses in some countries. Proposals are evaluated with 60% weight on technical merit and 40% weight on price, with an additional 5 points for firms meeting the statutory criteria for preference to U.S. firms. Technical evaluation takes into consideration such factors as management plan, knowledge and familiarity in performing guard services, technical personnel, previous similar experience and past performance. Firms interested in attending this seminar should FAX their expressions of interest to the person indicated not later than January 6, 1996. Please include company name, address, telephone number, and a point of contact. (0284)

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