United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Farm Service Agency (FSA), Management Services Division (MSD), Acquisition Management Branch (AMB), Special Projects Section (SPS), P.O. Box 2415, Room 6962-S, Stop 0567 Washington, D.C. 20013-2415

D -- MAINTENANCE OF IBM ADVANCED 36 COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS Sol FSA-R-0001-97DC. Contact Scott C. Wolz, Contracting Officer, (202)720-3736. The USDA/FSA is issuing a Request For Comment (RFC) on a draft Statement of Work (SOW) for remedial and preventive maintenance of IBM Advanced System 36 computers, and both IBM and non-IBM peripheral equipment located at approximately 2,??? sites throughout the United States, including Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico. Service will commence on October 1, 1997. The FSA intends on conducting this procurement under FAR Subpart 12, Acquisition of Commercial Items, and is seeking industry comments on the draft SOW. The draft SOW is located at the AMB Contracting Web Page and is accessible by using the instructions at the end of this notice. Firms who believe they can meet our needs are requested to respond to this RFC. Comments should address each mandatory requirement and desirable feature in the affirmative or negative. Affirmative responses should contain a brief narrative of how you plan to meet the requirements. If a response is negative, you should state why the specific requirement is not needed. Your response to each mandatory and desirable requirement should include paragraph numbering identifiable to the paragraph in the SOW. In addition to your written response, descriptive literature may be provided. Unnecessarily elaborate proposals are discouraged. After receipt and review of the responses to this RFC, the FSA intends on conducting a competitive acquisition. In no case will the requirement be purchased as a result of this RFC. The results of this RFC process will only be used for the refinement of the current draft SOW. The information obtained from this RFC will not be used in any way during the RFP process. The Government will not pay for any information, literature, etc. provided to the Government as a result of this RFC. In order for your response to receive full consideration it should be received by December 11, 1996. Please mark the outside of your envelope ``FSA Field Service Center ADPE Maintenance Project.'' The RFC document was developed using Word Perfect 6.0a. The AMB Web page is accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is located at ``http://wwwaix.fsa.usda.gov/amb/amb.htm''. A table-capable web browser (Netscape 2.0, Internet Explorer 2.0 or above, or compatible) is required. If you have any questions concerning the web page, please contact Scot Cook at 202-720-7349. (317)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0023 19961115\D-0001.SOL)