i. This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial services prepared in accordance with Federal Acquisition (FAR) 12.6, and supplemental information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotations are being requested and A WRITTEN SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE ISSUED. This combined synopsis/solicitation will result in a firm fixed price commercial services contract. ii. Simplified procurement procedures will be used for this acquisition per Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13. This requirement is one hundred percent set aside for small business. The NAICS code is 561320. The small business size standard is $12.5M sales, or less. iii. This requirement is for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ), Asian Long Horned Beetle (ALB), 50 Skyline Drive, Worcester, MA 01605 iv. The solicitation number for this effort is 08-222074 and this combined synopsis/solicitation is issued as a request for quotation (RFQ.) v. The provisions and clauses incorporated by reference have the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. The full text of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) may be accessed on the Internet at http://farsite.hill.af.mil/ vi. REQUIREMENTS AND QUANTITIES: This requirement consists of one line item(s): CLIN 01- Provide one (1) temporary service Clerk II, for up to 120 days, starting approximately September 25, 2008. Duties to include: Use email –receive and transmit; input data in spreadsheets; Microsoft Word and PowerPoint proficient; answer phones in a busy office; take messages; set up appointments; type a minimum of 40 words per minute; filing, copying, faxing. Hours: 7:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., eight hours per day, Monday through Friday. Overtime is NOT authorized. Federal holidays are not included and will not be paid. In accordance with the Department of Labor wage determination, 2005-2263, Revision 8, dated 05/29/2008, the General Clerk II shall be paid $15.57 per hour, plus health and welfare benefit of $3.24/hour for a total of $18.81 per hour. The contractor shall supply the quantity of line items listed above, and in accordance with the technical specifications outlined in this combined synopsis/solicitation. vii. In accordance with FAR 52.216-27, this request for quote may result in multiple contract awards and in any combination of line items. The Government reserves the right to award any combination of line items and may award multiple line items to the same offeror, and will make award decisions based on the most advantageous offer to the Government. viii. The provision at 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors-commercial applies to this solicitation ix. The provision 52.212-2 Evaluation-Commercial Items apples to this solicitation; Award will be made to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to this combined synopsis/solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. A trade off process will be used to evaluate quotes. The Government intends to evaluate offers and award without discussion, however, the Government reserves the right to conduct discussions later if determined necessary by the Contracting Officer. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers: Past performance, send list of references with quote; and price. Past performance, when compared to price is equal to price. Past performance is a measure of the degree to which an offeror has satisfied customers in the past, and complied with federal, state, and local laws and regulations. The assessment will consider the firms record of conforming to specifications and to standards of good workmanship, customer service, and adherence to contract schedules, terms and conditions. In accordance with FAR 52.212-1 (b) (10) regarding past performance, references are requested. Each offeror must submit three references which are either current or recent customers. x The provisions 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items applies to this solicitation. The contractor shall either complete the online Offeror Representations and Certifications at www.bpn.gov or return a completed copy of the Offer Representations and Certifications with their quotation. A hard copy of the provision may be attained from http://www.arnet.gov/far xi. The clause at 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items applies to this acquisition. xii. The clause at 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders are considered checked and are applicable to this acquisition: 52.203-6 Restrictions on Subcontractor Sales to the Government, Alternate I; 52.219-6 Notice of Total Small Business Set-Aside; 52.219-8 Utilization of Small Business Concerns; 52.219-14 Limitations on Subcontracting; 52.222-3 Convict Labor; 52.222-19 Child Labor-Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies; 52.2222-21 Prohibition of Segregated Facilities; 52.222-26 Equal Opportunity; 52.222-35 Equal Opportunity for Special Disabled Veterans of the Vietnam Era, and Other Eligible Veterans; 52.222-36 Affirmative Action for Workers with Disabilities; 52.22-37 Employment Reports on Special Disabled Veterans, Veterans of the Vietnam Era, and Other Eligible Veterans; 52.323-33 Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer Central Contractor Registration (CCR); 52.222-41 Service Contract Act of 1965 xiii. To be awarded this contract, the offeror must be registered in the CCR. CCR information may be found at http://www.ccr.gov xiv. QUOTATIONS ARE DUE the United States Department of Agriculture, Minneapolis Contracting Officer, 100 North 6th Street, Butler Square 5th Floor, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403, by 4:30 PM CST, SEPTEMBER 23, 2008 Quotes may be sent via e-mail to
[email protected] , by fax to 612 336 3550 or via mail to the above address. xv. The point of contact for this synopsis solicitation is Joanne Mann who may be reached at
[email protected] , or by phone at 612 336 3224. xvi. A COMPLETE QUOTE SHALL CONSIST OF THE FOLLOWING: 1) Price for each line item, CLINS 001, which provides the billable hour rate. 2) Signature of the offeror on the page which lists the price. 3) References as requested above 4) The company name, address, phone number, contact person, Tax I.D. number and DUNS number. 5) A completed copy of the provisions at FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items OR confirmation that this has been completed online, such as the first page of the ORCA registration 6) Offers may be submitted on company letterhead in lieu of the SF 1449 If an offerors quote does not contain all of the items listed above, the quote may be considered incomplete for evaluation purposes and no further consideration will be given to the offerors quote, thereby making an offeror ineligible for award.