U.S. Information Agency, Office of Contracts, 301 4TH STREET SW, Room M27, Washington, DC 20547

D -- LEASED SATELLITE SERVICES SOL IA0300-S8234770 DUE 012698 POC Kristine Muschette-Hicks, Contracting Officer, Tel.: (202) 205-9467 -- Fax.: (202) 205-5466 This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation. Proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. This is RFP No. IA0300-S8234770-KMH. Prospective offerors shall obtain a copy of all exhibits cited herein via fax from the Contract Specialist above. Requests should be made immediately. This RFP document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 97-01, dated 10/21/97. This is a full and open competition, SIC No. 4899, Communication Services, Not Elsewhere Classified. We expect RFP No. IA0300-S8234770-KMH will result in a firm-fixed price contract with a one-year base period beginning February 15, 1998, plus six (6) one-year options to extend the term of the contract. The FAR provisions at 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors -- Commercial Items; FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation -- Commercial Items, FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions -- Commercials; FAR 52.217-9, Option to Extend the Term of the Contract; FAR 52.232-18 Availability of Funds; and FAR 52.237-3 Continuity of Services, apply to this RFP. The Government expects to award a contract resulting from this RFP to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the RFP will be the most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors, in descending order of importance, shall be used to evaluate offers: (1) Offerors proposed technical approach and understanding of effort; (2) Offeror's proposed management approach; (3) Offeror's past performance; (4) Offeror's proposed price; and (5) Offeror's organization qualifications and background. The offeror shall include a completed copy of the FAR provision at 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications -- Commercial Items. Offerors are advised that FAR provision 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders -- Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition. The deadline for receipt of offers is January 26, 1998, 12:00pm EST. The proposal shall be signed by an official authorized to bind your organization. Submit one (1) copy with price and technical proposals bound separately to: U.S. Information Agency, Office of Contracts, ATTN: Kristine Muschette-Hicks, M/KC, 301 4th Street, SW, Room M-22, Washington, DC 20547. RFP No. IA0300-S8234770-KMH offers may be submitted on letterhead and at a minimum shall show: (1) RFP number; (2) The date and time specified in the RFP for the receipt of offers; (3) The name, address and phone number of the offeror; (4) A technical description of the offer in sufficient detail to evaluate compliance with the requirements in the solicitation; (5) Price (6) "Remit To Address," if different from mailing address; (7) a completed copy of the representation and certificates at FAR 5.212-3; (8) Acknowledgment of RFP Amendments, if any; (9) Include a statement specifying the extent of agreement with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the RFP; and (10) Provide a list of escalation procedures, names and 24-hour contact numbers with the proposal. Our award may be made without discussion. DESCRIPTION OF THE REQUIREMENTS: The U.S. Information Agency's International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) requires a ground satellite station reception positioned on the INTELSAT 332.5 Degree East Satellite. The reception facility must be INTELSAT standard F1 compliant. If the antenna is not certified in the INTELSAT system as F1 or better, documentation on the antenna parameters and manufacturer must be provided. If it is INTELSAT certified, the offeror must provide the INTELSAT designator for the antenna. The antenna must be equipped with LNA(s) to provide a C-Band 3.7 to 4.2 GHz frequency spectrum to Government Furnished Equipment (GFE). A redundant LNA configuration is preferable and will receive a higher technical score than a single thread LNA system. The cable run from the LNA output to the GFE input will have less than a 2dB loss (the cable length and type of cable must be determined by the contractor. The GFE equipment will be housed in a standard 7 foot equipment rack. If offerors would like to put the GFE equipment into their own equipment rack(s), that would be acceptable. The GFE equipment will take the C-Band RF feed from the offeror supplied antenna, demodulate the appropriate International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) audio channels from the INTELSAT satellite and provide 12 broadcast audio channel outputs. The offeror will take the 12 audio channel outputs and transport them to the BBC Bush House London, U.K. control center facility. The offeror is responsible for all transactions with BBC Bush House. The channel bandwidths will be 15 kHz. Frequency response will be no greater than +/- .5 dB from 500 to 12,000 Hz and no greater than +/- 1 dB between 50 to 500 Hz and 12,000 to 15,000 Hz. Distortion will not exceed 1% at any frequency between 50 and 15,000 Hz. Maximum test tone deviation will not exceed +/- .25 dB at any frequency between 50 and 15,000 Hz. Idle Channel Noise (ICN) will be equal to or better than -60 dBm. The offeror is responsible to establish these channel tolerances from the demarc point at the offeror facility (the GFE patch panel) to the demarc point at the BBC Bush House location. The start of service date is February 15, 1998. The link must be completely functional by February 15. The offeror earth station facility must be staffed 24 hours/7 days/week. The offeror must provide earth station and/or control center telephone number(s), facsimile number(s), Internet e-mail address (if available) with their proposal. The offeror is required to maintain GFE items. GFE major components may consist of Timeplex Link 2 multiplexer, Comstream ABR200 receivers, LNR Down Converters, Scientific Atlanta PowerVu receivers. The offeror must provide a fault escalation list with a minimum of 3 managerial levels above their control center, providing name, title, home telephone, office telephone, facsimile, mobile phone (if available), Internet e-mail address (if available) with their proposal. The Contractor shall immediately notify IBB's Network Control Center (NCC) of link failures in any portion of the Contractor's responsible link from the loss of AOR reception through the fiber optic cable facilities to the BBC Bush House, London location.. The Contractor shall maintain a link availability of the entire Contractor supplied link from the AOR satellite reception antenna through the fiber optic cable to the BBC Bush House demarc at a minimum availability of 99.97%. Availability shall be calculated based on 24 hours/day/365 days/year. Interruptions that exceed 99.97% shall be credited to the Agency for the full amount of the entire link. For example, if there is a failure of the fiber optic cable link that exceeds 99.97%, the credit to the Agency will be for the fiber link and all ground station facilities for the affected services. The 99.97% availability is for the entire link, end-to-end, as a unified system, not individual components. Interruptions as a result of any failure or activity of the Agency to deliver the signal to the AOR satellite downlink demarc point (offeror's receive antenna) or normal GFE failures are excluded from link availability or Contractor rebates for interruptions. Contractor shall respond to the NCC for any matter concerning the entire Contractor supplied link with the exception of actions that could cause harm to living beings, damage Contractor supplied equipment, or exceed the operating limitations of subcontractor supplied services or equipment. The Contractor shall coordinate planned downtimes with the NCC Manager or in his absence Deputy Manager at least 5 business days prior to the downtime. If emergency maintenance is required on the link, coordinate the downtime as soon as possible prior to link interruption. Emergency downtimes must be scheduled with the on duty NCC operations staff in the absence of the Manager and Deputy Manager. Downtimes not coordinated in advance will be treated as service interruptions and will be handled in accordance with requirements defined above in this RFP. The Agency is responsible to deliver the required programming to the AOR INTELSAT 332.5 Degree East Satellite. The Agency is responsible for the transmission to the 332.5 Degree Satellite and the 332.5 Degree Satellite transponder/space segment. Offeror shall provide prices for all necessary labor, management, materials, supplies, services, documentation and facilities (except for those facilities provided by the Government) required to perform all services described herein: CLIN 1: Base Year- (February 15, 1998 through February 14, 1999): Provide satellite reception and fiber optic cable facilities; CLIN 2: Option Year One -- (February 15, 1999 through February 14, 2000): Provide satellite reception and fiber optic cable facilities; CLIN 3: Option Year Two -- (February 15, 2000 through February 14, 2001): Provide satellite reception and fiber optic cable facilities; CLIN 4: Option Year Three -- (February 15, 2001 through February 14, 2002): Provide satellite reception and fiber optic cable facilities; CLIN 5: Option Year Four -- (February 15, 2002 through February 14, 2003): Provide satellite reception and fiber optic cable facilities; CLIN 6: Option Year Five -- (February 15, 2003 through February 14, 2004): Provide satellite reception and fiber optic cable facilities; CLIN 7: Option Year Six -- (February 15, 2004 through February 14, 2005: Provide satellite reception and fiber optic cable facilities; CLIN 8: Per minute, or fraction thereof, price credit for service interruptions. Contractor shall submit quarterly invoices, in duplicate. (0005)

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