Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Office of Acquisition and Grants Services, 1120 Vermont Avenue, NW, Mail Stop 50, Washington, DC, 20590

D -- INTERNET SITE DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE, COMPUTER PROGRAMMING, AND DATA PROCESSING FOR RAILROAD SAFETY SOL DTFR53-00-R-00015 DUE 040500 POC Thomas Riddle, Contracting Officer, Phone (202) 493-6149, Fax (202) 493-6171, Email tom.riddle@fra.dot.gov -- Illona Williams, Contracting Officer, Phone (202) 493-6130, Fax (202) 493-6171, Email WEB: Visit this URL for the latest information about this, http://www.eps.gov/cgi-bin/WebObjects/EPS?ACode=P&ProjID=DTFR53-00-R-0 0015&LocID=1042. E-MAIL: Thomas Riddle, tom.riddle@fra.dot.gov. This notice of proposed contract action (synopsis) is issued pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 5.101(a)(1) and 5.201(b)(1). The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)intends to negotiate a one-year base period contract with two (2) additional one-year option periods in support of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Office of Safety_s Railroad Safety Information System (RSIS). The RSIS is the principle monitoring strategy used by the FRA for the management, processing and reporting on railroad reported accidents/incidents; railroad inspections; highway-rail grade crossing data; and related railroad safety activities. Information for the RSIS is collected by federal, state and railroad industry inspectors nationwide and is either routed through the FRA or sent directly to the FRA-contracted data processing vendor. The FRA has developed a library of user friendly client based software to allow users to input data on the PC and transmit to FRA electronically. The contractoris responsible for the maintenance and development of this software. This raw information, referred to as source data, may include hard copy paper forms or reports, diskettes, computer-to-computer transfers, and magnetic tapes. The contractor, using Government furnished equipment, is responsible for performing data entry, validation, editing, complying services, and providing, on a production schedule, data bases completely edited for accuracy and available for immediate retrieval without further error checking of any sort. Statistical data and reported findings are thereafter available for query and report generation by the FRA or similar use by the agency, state and local governments, railroad labor and industry, and private groups or citizens. The principle technique for presenting and retrieving information is the FRA Internet site; this dynamic site and the dynamic multi-level secure area present the statistics, and individual reports to the public and the FRA. The contractor is responsible for maintaining this site and providing enhancements. This is a restricted, competitive procurement. Offers are being solicited only from small business concerns expressly certified by the Small Business Administration (SBA) for participation in the SBA's 8(a) Program and which meet the following criteria at the time of submission of offer: (1) SIC code 7371 is specifically included in the offeror's approved business plan; (2) the offer is in conformance with the 8(a) support limitation set forth in its approved business plan; (3) the offeror has its principal office or a purposeful servicing office in the Greater Washington [DC]Metropolitan Area; and (4) the offeror is in conformance with the Business Activity Targets set forth in the approved business plan on file and serviced by U.S. Small Business Administration Washington District Office. Competition is limited to eligible 8(a) concerns. The following information and schedule of events is provided to assist perspective, eligible offerors in participating in this proposed contract action: (1) On or about March 6, 2000, the FRA will release the solicitation for the subject requirement. A Request for Proposals (RFP) will be made available in electronic media and posted to the Electronic Posting System (EPS). Once posted, the RFP may be download from the following Internet address: http://www.eps.gov . The FRA does not intend to make the RFP available in hard copy. (2) Not later than March 14, 2000, perspective offerors are to submit, in writing, questions they may have about the RFP, to include items related to the proposal instructions and evaluation criteria, including the approach for assessing past performance information; the statement of work and performance requirements; proposed contract type or terms and conditions, or performance based contracting; and other relevant concerns or questions. Written requests may be sent by regular mail to T. Riddle, Federal Railroad Administration, Office of Acquisition and Grants Services, 1120 Vermont Ave., N.W., Mail Stop 50, Washington, DC 20590; or by express delivery to the same addressee at 1120 Vermont Ave., Room 6138, Washington, DC 20005; sent via facsimile transmission to FAX# 202/493-6171, ATTN: T. Riddle; or sent electronically via e-mail to tom.riddle@fra.dot.gov . All correspondence should reference SOL# DTFR53-00-R-00015. (Note: The Government will not be responsible for any failure attributable to the transmission or receipt of facsimile or e-mail correspondence (e.g., garbled, incomplete, illegible, delayed, or misidentified transmissions, incompatibility between sending/receiving equipment, misdirected mail, etc)). (3) On March 17, 2000, the FRA will host a Preproposal Conference at its headquarters offices at 1120 Vermont Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC. The Conference will be held at 1:30 p.m. (local time) in Conference Room No. 1 on the 7th floor. Attendees will go to the 7th floor security/guard desk just off the elevators for sign-in and further direction. (Note: Offerors are responsible for checking the EPS for changes, cancellation or postponements on the date, time or location for the conference, as well as for any other item related to this contract action.) All perspective, eligible offerors are strongly encouraged to attend this Preproposal Conference, as it may assist them in gaining a better understanding of the RSIS and in preparing various portions of their proposals. Attendance is limited to two (2) persons from any given 8(a) firm eligible to participate in this procurement. The Conference will consist of two primary presentations: Technical and Contractual. The technical presentation will last approximately 60 to 90 minutes and will consist of the following parts: (a) Demonstration of the client based software Railroad Inspection Reporting System for Personal Computer (RISPC). Full screen data entry and editing features include drop down menus, cross field validation, help windows, utilities, and data transfer. (b) The FRA SafetyData Web Site will be displayed and accessed to show the wide range of functions available, the static and dynamic functionally of the site, and the importance of design in providing a user friendly environment. The FRA SafetyData Web site is available for vendors to use at their convenience at any time; the URL is : http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov . (c)Discussion on the interrelationship of the three major systems and their subsystems, as well as the requirements for successful processing for each system. (d) Responses to written technical questions submitted on before March 14, 2000. The contract/procurement presentation will last approximately 30 to 60 minutes. This portion of the Conference will recap the solicitation, submission and selection process, and discuss various aspects of performance based contracting to include the use of positive and negative incentives, surveillance, quality control and quality assurance. This will also include responses to questions previously submitted of a contractual or legal nature. Attendees will also be given an opportunity at the Conference to submit written questions related to the technical and contractual presentations. (Note: Information presented at the Preproposal Conference will not change and should not be construed as a change to the RFP or the requirements therein. Only a written amendment to the RFP issued by the Contracting Officer shall be considered a change to the stated requirements. Generally, questions and answers presented before or at the Conference will be posted to EPS, as will a list of attendees and interested parties. A question would not be released only in the event that the question is determined by the Contracting Officer to be proprietary in nature, not to be necessary to be made known for all perspective offerors to prepare a proposal, or not releaseable by other appropriate authorization.) The FRA has made the following provisions for eligible, perspective offerors who are not able to attend the Preproposal Conference: The FRA intends to video tape the Preproposal Conference. The FRA will allow eligible, perspective offerors to visit FRA, by appointment only (contact T. Riddle at the addresses/numbers listed herein), to view the videotape at the FRA headquarters at 1120 Vermont Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC. Copies will not be made available for distribution or check out. Firms that had representatives who attended the Preproposal Conference are not eligible to make an appointment to view the videotape of the Conference. (4) On or about April 5, 2000, proposals in response to the RFP for the subject contract action will be due. (Note: The RFP alone shall establish and specify the closing or due date for receipt of proposals.) Materials or other submission that will be due on the closing date established in the RFP will be specified, in full, in the RFP. (5) During the period of approximately April 17 -- 28, 2000, eligible offerors that have timely submitted proposal materials, and that are considered by the FRA to have a good performance record and to be fully capable of providing the services identified in the requirement, at realistic, competitive prices, will be invited by FRA to conduct oral presentations at the FRA headquarters to augment their written submissions furnished at the time of RFP closing. Information on time or other constraints, who is required to present, logistical arrangements, appointment scheduling, and information on what items or issues that are of interest to the FRA that should be demonstrated or presented to the FRA, shall be specified, in full, in the RFP. (6) The FRA intends to state in the solicitation that the Government intends to evaluate proposals and make award without discussions. It is anticipated that following oral presentations and the conclusion of the FRA_s evaluations, a determination will be made by the Source Selection Authority as to which offeror's proposal is of the best value to the Government in accordances with the evaluation factors and subfactors set forth in the solicitation, and an award made to a single, eligible 8(a) offeror between May 1, and May 15, 2000. This is an restricted competitive procurement. All eligible, responsible sources may submit a proposal which shall be considered by the Agency. ATTENTION: Minority, Women-Owned and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs)! The DOT, Short-Term Lending Program (STLP) offers working capital financing in the form of lines of credit to finance accounts receivable for transportation related contracts. Maximum line of credit is $500,000 with interest at the prime rate. For further information call (800) 532-1169. Internet address: http://osdbuweb.dot.gov. For information concerning the acquisition, contact the contracting officials listed above. Posted 02/18/00 (D-SN427062). (0049)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0024 20000223\D-0002.SOL)