Bureau of the Census, Procurement Office, Room 1541, FB#3, Washington, (Suitland, MD) DC 20233

70 -- LAPTOP COMPUTERS POC Edward Cormier, (301) 457-2007 The U.S. Bureau of the Census has a requirement to maintain a readily available inventory of similar lightweight and inexpensive laptop computers capable of generating, retrieving, storing, and transmitting DOS-based data files during the process of field data collections for its current surveys and activities during the decennial census. The following are minimum basic requirements of the laptops: 1) Each laptop must weigh no more than 5.25 LBS including battery(s) installed and all internal and permanently attached components; 2) must have at least a 486/50mhz processor or above; 3) must have a minimum of 8MB RAM memory expandable to 16MB or higher; 4) must have a minimum battery life of 3 hours per battery, plus a total of 8 hours of battery life with as many extra batteries as needed to accomplish this; 5) the batteries must be internal or attached and easily replaceable under Field Conditions; 6) when the batteries are replaced the laptop should write the data to memory automatically; 7) the laptop must be an unmodified COTS unit. Additional minimum basic requirements will be included in the Project Agreement. Interested parties will also be required to obtain an independent past performance evaluation from Dun & Bradstreet Information Services (D&B), at the vendor's expense, to be submitted to the government as part of its proposal for evaluation of past performance. It is anticipated that the U.S.Bureau of the Census will require up to 3500 new units per year over a four year period commencing late FY 1996 plus an additional 10,000 to 15,000 units for anticipated Decennial activities through FY 2000. The U.S. Bureau of the Census prefers to meet its laptop needs through leasing arrangements, which would include field maintenance; however it may consider and evaluate any proposal including purchase or acquisition by any other means. This competitive procurement will be conducted using a new streamlined acquisition process described in a document entitled ''Department of Commerce Acquisition Process Case for Change'' which may be found on the Internet at http://www.uspto.gov/web/doc/bpr/. The intent of this new process is to provide an improved acquisition environment which will benefit both the vendor community and the Government. As part of this process, the Laptop Project Agreement, and the individual FAR deviations for this acquisition, will be made available on the Internet at http://www.conops.doc.gov on or about June 18, 1996. In accordance with the new acquisition process, the Laptop Project Agreement will serve as the solicitation document for this requirement. Interested parties must respond to the Laptop Project Agreement in order to be considered for award of a resulting contract. Responses to questions or a printed copy of the Laptop Project Agreement and the ''Department of Commerce Acquisition Process Case for Change'' may be obtained by written request to the Laptop Acquisition Team, Attn: Alba Sanchez. Questions may also be entertained via E-mail from http://www.conops.doc.gov. (0152)

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