99 -- DATA AND DATA SERVICES RELATING TO THE US DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL AVIATION SYSTEM

Notice Date

September 14, 2000

Contracting Office

U.S. General Accounting Office, Acquisition Management, 441 G. Street N.W., Room 6851, Washington, DC 20548

ZIP Code

20548

Solicitation Number

OAM-2000-N-0045

Response Due

September 21, 2000

Point of Contact

Darion A. Powell (202) 512-3725

Description

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. Solicitation No. OAM-2000-N-0045 identifies the Government's Request for Proposal (RFP). Federal Provision 52.212-1 -- Instructions to Offerors -- Commercial Items applies to this acquisition. Offerors must include a completed copy of FAR provision 52.212-3 -- Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items with their offer. The following clauses also apply to this synopsis/ solicitation: FAR 52.212-5 -- Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statues or Executive Orders -- Commercial Items, 52-212-4 -- Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items, Conditions. Offers will be evaluated in accordance with FAR Provisions 52.212-2, Evaluation of Commercial Items, price and other technical factors considered. FAR Provision 52.215-18, facsimile proposals applies. We anticipate award of a contract for a base period (FY-2000) and four one-year option periods (FY-2001, FY-2002, FY-2003 and FY-2004). Proposals are due in this office no later than 2 p.m. Thursday, September 21, 2000. The point of contact for this requirement is Ms. Darion A. Powell (Contracting Officer) telephone number 202/512-3725. Submit Proposals (if mailed) to U.S. General Accounting Office, Acquisition Management Room 6B46, 441 G Street N.W., Washington D.C. 20548, Attn: Darion A. Powell or (if handcarried) to U.S. General Accounting Office, Acquisition Management, c/o OGC Correspondence Control Team, 441 G Street N.W., Washington D.C., Attn: Darion A. Powell . Proposals may also be submitted via e-mail to powelld.gsc@gao.gov or pegnatoj.gsc@gao.gov or faxed to (202) 512-2879, Attn: Darion A. Powell. This combined synopsis/solicitation is organized in eight parts: 1. Background; 2. Data Needs and Requirements;3. Support/Technical Assistance; 4. Data Quality; 5. System Requirements; 6. Training and Technical Support; 7. Evaluation Criteria; 8. Required Data Elements. 1. Background: GAO exists to support the Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people. Nearly all of its work is mandated in legislation or requested by Committee or Subcommittee Chairs; Ranking Minority Members; or individual members of appropriations, authorizing, budget, or oversight committees. GAO is responsible for meeting short-term, immediate needs for information and helping the Congress better understand issues that are newly emerging, longer-term in nature, broad in scope, and occurring across the government. The Congress looks to GAO to turn assertions and information into facts and knowledge. Three core values underlie GAO's work: accountability, integrity, and reliability. Over the past several years, the Congress has regularly requested that GAO examine different aspects of the state of competition in the U.S. airline industry. These requests have covered issues relating to both domestic and international service, as well as both passenger and cargo air service. Since the beginning of 1999, GAO published work on a variety of airline competition topics. These included: Airline Deregulation: Changes in Airfares, Service Quality, and Barriers to Entry (GAO/RCED-99-92, Mar. 4, 1999), which examined changes in airfares (expressed in mileage-adjusted cents per mile in constant dollars) and the quantity and quality of air service at 178 U.S. communities; Airline Deregulation: Changes in Airfares and Service at Four South Carolina Communities (GAO/T-RCED-99-117, March 12, 1999), which examined changes in business and leisure fares, along with air service quantity and quality at four South Carolina communities, including Charleston. Reagan National Airport: Capacity to Handle Additional Flights and Impact on Other Area Airports (GAO/RCED-99-234, Sept. 17, 1999), which examined whether Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport could handle more flights per hour than its current legislative limit allows and, if so, what the possible implications might be on the operations of Washington Dulles International Airport and Baltimore-Washington International Airport. The report analyzed cases in which airlines introduced new service opportunities at one airport and the extent to which passengers who had been paying business and leisure fares to the same destination from the other two airports responded to the new service opportunities. Essential Air Service: Changes in Subsidy Levels, Air Carrier Costs, and Passenger Traffic (GAO/RCED-00-34, April 14, 2000), which examined changes in air fares and service quantity and quality at small communities throughout the United States that receive scheduled passenger air service via the Essential Air Service program. Each of these reports is available on line at http: www.gao.gov. In addition, hard copies of these reports can be obtained by mail through orders sent to: U.S. General Accounting ffice, P.O. Box 37050, Washington, D.C. 20013 or by visiting GAO at Room 1100, 700 4th St. NW, Washington, D.C. The first copy of each GAO report and testimony is free. Additional copies are $2 each. During fiscal year 2000, GAO also provided information to the Congress on airline competition topics, including information on average airfares, passenger traffic, service quantity and quality, and the market strength of various air carriers at several other communities. GAO has also received requests for additional studies on competition issues. Among those is a request that GAO examine the airlines' ability to extend service to some communities using small jet aircraft (referred to in the industry as "regional jets"). GAO has also been legislatively mandated to study the impact on airlines and consumers of various airline ticket practices relating to "hidden city" and "back-to-back" ticketing. GAO has also received receive requests for work on topics related to proposed airline mergers. Finally, as with each of the past several years, GAO expects to receive requests from the Congress on other aviation competition issues that are not currently included in GAO's annual work plan. 2. Data Needs and Requirements : In general, GAO needs data and software to analyze the supply of scheduled domestic air service. GAO must be able to do different analyses at various levels of aggregation (e.g., total industry, large air carriers, individual air carriers, etc.). For example, GAO may need to calculate an individual airline's market share (based on different measures, such as available seat capacity) in a given airport-pair or city-pair market. Similarly, GAO may need to calculate an airline's market share at a given airport, and to be able to distinguish between the amount of that share attributable to different code-sharing affiliates or aircraft type (e.g., Boeing 757 or ATR 42). GAO also needs to be able to analyze airlines' service claims. These needs include, but are not limited to: determining what routes (i.e., airport-pair or city-pair markets) are served by individual airlines-including their code-sharing affiliates -- via either non-stop or connecting service; mapping those route networks; determining whether alternate connecting operations may be possible; determining whether claims made by air carriers regarding new one-stop connecting flights that might result from merger or consolidation are valid; tracing the historic deployment of various types of aircraft (e.g., regional jets) in different markets, by each airline; and comparing the service offered by the carrier operating or marketing the regional jet service to the service offered by other airlines competing in the same city-pair or airport-pair market. The data provided should include historic schedule data, for either the month of May or the second quarter (April-June) of the calendar year for the years 1997-2000. In addition, GAO requires access to current airline schedule data for the 12-month period beginning in the month that the contract is awarded. Thus, vendors must be able to update current schedule data, preferably on a monthly basis. Vendors must provide complete definitions of data elements provided, as well as keys that define numeric or alphabetic codes applied (e.g., LOCID codes for airports or cities, flight number codes that indicate whether particular flight segments are operated by a code-sharing airline-whether another large carrier or commuter affiliate, days of week that the flight is operated, etc.) Attachment I lists the data elements that should be included. 3. Vendor Support/Technical Assistance: The vendor should make staff available -- either in person, by telephone, or via other electronic means of communication -- to respond to questions from GAO staff regarding both the data and the software used for analysis.4. Data Quality; To the greatest extent possible, vendors must provide data of the highest possible quality. The vendor must be able to document steps taken to ensure data accuracy. 5. System Requirements; The data must be provided in machine-readable format. It may be accessible either on-line or provided on CD and/or diskette. Analysts must be able to access the data either on individual personal computers or through GAO's network. The vendor must provide software through which GAO staff can access and analyze the data. This software must be compatible with a Microsoft Windows 95 environment (or updated version). The software to be provided by the vendor must allow GAO staff to produce output in various formats (i.e., machine-readable text, database, or spreadsheet formats). Additionally, output must be writeable to file, screen, or printer. 6. Training and Technical Support; The vendor must also provide GAO staff with training and documentation explaining the data and how to use the software. The vendor must be able to provide initial training within 2 calendar weeks of the contract award date; technical support must be available within normal business hours (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard or Daylight Time). 7. Evaluation Criteria; The Government will make award to the responsible firm whose offer conforms to the task order and is most advantageous to the Government. Technical factors and cost or price will be considered. Proposals will be evaluated by applying the criteria with the following relative weights: A Demonstrated Ability of Contractor to Perform the Work (25 points); Demonstrate the relevance and adequacy of corporate experience as related to the tasks to be performed under this task order. Firms should address their experience with providing aviation data and analyses. Firms should also address their ability to meet time frames and recent successful experience in completing similar work. References (name(s) and telephone number(s) of contacts) must be provided for at least three clients with similar data or analytic service needs. For each client listed, firms should describe data and/or services provided. B.Qualifications of Proposed Staff (20 points); For key staff, describe the relevant qualifications as demonstrated by employment history, educational attainment, and specific accomplishments on similar projects. C. Ability to Provide Data and/or Analysis in a Timely Manner (20 points); Describe when the firm can begin providing the requested data and/or analysis, when updates will be provided, and the format in which data and/or analysis will be provided. D. Ability of Firm to Provide Training and Technical Support (20 points): Describe the type of training and technical support that the firm could provide to the client. Firms should also provide information regarding the qualifications and number of persons available to provide training and technical assistance as well as information regarding the scope of that assistance. E. Information on how Quality of Data and/or Analysis is Ensured (15 points); Provide description of any alterations or revisions made to data submitted by air carriers, along with justification for doing so. Provide also a description of how frequently the vendor makes any such alterations or revisions. 8. REQUIRED DATA ELEMENTS Data Element Definition Carrier Code As assigned by IATA/ISO (i.e.. AA = American Airlines). Flight Number As assigned by airline Departure Airport Code As assigned by IATA Departure City Code As assigned by IATA Arrival Airport Code As assigned by IATA Arrival City Code As assigned by IATA Departure Time The departure and arrival times are local times. They are 24-hour times showing HHMM. Arrival Time See Departure Time. Arrival Day The arrival day marker shows if the carrier arrives on a different day than when it departed. (i.e. '1' = next day, '2' = 2 days later, and 'P' = arrives on previous day) Elapsed Journey Time Calculated from the departure and arrival GMT times. It is shown as HHMM. Days of Operation Departure days of the week done using the arrival day marker. (i.e., 1=Monday, 2=Tuesday, 3=Wednesday, 4=Thursday, 5=Friday, 6=Saturday, 7=Sunday) Stops The number of stops on route. Intermediate Airports Shown as 3-letter IATA airport codes. For example, if there are 2 stops on route over Denver and O'Hare it would be shown as DENORD. General Aircraft Type Code The IATA generic aircraft code used to describe one or more aircraft of a particular type (i.e., 707, 72S). Specific Aircraft Type Code The IATA-specific aircraft codes. (i.e., 70F, 703 = Specific for 707). Service Type IATA one-letter code for service type. (i.e., J = Passenger, Q = Combination, F = Freight) Available Seats Available seats by carrier, aircraft type and service type. When specific seats information is not given by an airline the aircraft defaults are used. Passenger Classes The primary passenger class codes. (i.e. C = Business Class, D = Business Class Discounted, Y = Economy/Coach) Domestic/International MCT Marker Determines passenger status for Minimum Connection Times (MCT) for the purpose of building connections. Full Routing Shown as 3-letter IATA codes. The full routing is shown for each sector of every flight. For example a full routing LAX DEN CHI BOS. The full routing would be displayed as shown 'LAXDENCHIBOS.' Distance The great circle miles expressed in statute miles or mileage between departure and arrival airports. Shared Airline Designator Shows the carrier that operates the flight in a shared airline agreement. For example, some or all of a flight operated by a commuter airline is identified with the code of the airline with which it has a special agreement. Operating/Non Operating Marker A marker to show if the carrier is operating or non-operating the flight. O = Operating, N = Non-Operating.

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20000918/99SOL002.HTM (W-258 SN496866)