U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Room 616A, 6303 Ivy Lane, Greenbelt, Maryland 20770- 1433

Z -- GENERAL CONSTRUCTION SERVICES SOL 9099-3K15-96 DUE 020797 POC Contracting Officer, Joan Baker, (301)344-0253 General Construction Services. Award of a competitively negotiated indefinite quantity contract is being considered for miscellaneous General Construction Services under a Task Order Agreement as required during a period of one year with four additonal one-year option periods, for the Agricultural Research Service: Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC), Beltsville, Maryland; U.S. Plant Introduction Station, Glenn Dale, Maryland; and the U.S. National Arboretum, Washington, DC. The estimated construction cost range is between $25,000 minimum and $2,500,000 maximum total per year which may include multiple task projects. This contract will allow a minimum order of $2,500 and maximum of $995,000 for each individual task order. In addition to other factors, the Government may elect to award a single delivery order contract or task order contract or to award multiple delivery order contracts or task order contracts for the same or similar supplies or services to two or more sources under this solicitation. The Government may evaluate proposals in response to this solicitation without discussions and award a contract to the responsive, responsible offeror(s) whose proposal contains the best combination of management and technical ability, past performance, and cost/price. The General Contractor is required to have as a minimum: Five years experience and Bonding capacity of a least $995,000 per project. Proposals which meet all applicable requirements will be evaluated in accordance with the following specific factors in order to determine which proposals will initially be placed in the competitive range based on technical score. The primary factors to be used in determining which proposal is most advantageous to the Government are listed below in descending order of importance: 1) Project Management Plan; 2) Past Performance; 3) Technical Experience; 4) Geographical location and knowledge of the locality of the project, provided that application of the criterion leaves an appropriate number of qualified firms; and 5) Cost Reasonableness. The solicitation issue date is on or about December 3, 1996. A set of solicitation documents will be available for a non-refundable charge of $20. Interested firms must submit a written request, along with a check or money order made payable to USDA, Agricultural Research Service, and submitted to USDA, ARS, FD, FCB, Room 616A, 6303 Ivy Lane, Greenbelt, Maryland 20770-1433. The proposed contract(s) is 100 per cent set aside for small business concerns. (0299)

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