The purpose of this revision is to correct the due date for proposals from November 18, 2017 to October 18, 2017. Also see CP-09-18-17-02 On behalf of the U.S. AbilityOne Commission (operating name of The Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled) the independent federal agency that administers the AbilityOne Program, (National Industries for the Blind (NIB) a designated central nonprofit agency, is pursuing potential partnerships with U.S. commercial manufacturers of wallboard for the purpose of providing employment for people who are blind or severely disabled. If successful, the result will be a co-brand agreement between the manufacturer and the AbilityOne Program, and its registered brands. The ultimate expectation is that the co-branded product will be placed on the AbilityOne Procurement List (PL). If successful, the result will be a co-brand agreement between the manufacturer and the AbilityOne Program, and its registered brands. The ultimate expectation is that the co-branded product will be placed on the AbilityOne Procurement List (PL). At minimum, the following product requirements must be met: 1. A line that include one or more of the items below, but is not limited to: a. Cubicle Boards: wallboards specifically designed to be used in an office cubicle. Must be able to be able to be hung on fabric or office walls. i. Offered in sizes 30" x 18", 24" x 13" or 14" x 11" ii. Offered in cork, dry erase melamine, painted steel, porcelain, cork or a combination of the proceeding. iii. Offered with an aluminum frame in black or silver. iv. Offered with a dry erase marker v. Offered with possible screen printed calendar on board. b. Magnetic Boards: wallboards manufactured with porcelain or painted steel inserts. i. Offered in sizes 18" x 24", 24" x 36", 48" x 36", 60" x 36", 72" x 48" ii. Offered with aluminum frame, oak finish frame, mahogany finish frame, mahogany finish with plastic top rails & plastic side rails, and black aluminum frames. iii. Must include tray. c. Cork Boards: wallboards manufactured with natural cork. i. Offered in sizes 18" x 24", 12" x 36", 36" x 24", 36" x 48" and 72" x 48". ii. Offered with oak finish frame, aluminum frame and black aluminum frame. d. Planner Boards: wallboards containing printing either calendar, in/out matrix or light grid i. Offered in sizes 11" x 14", 18" x 24" 24" x 36", 36" x 48" and 72" x 48" ii. Offered with 30 day, 60 day, or 90 day calendar. iii. Offered with in/out matrix for 14 people and for 29 people. iv. Offered with grids to customize scheduling needs. e. Combination Boards: wallboards with half dry erase surface and half cork board i. Offered in sizes of 24" x 36" and 36" x 48" ii. Offered in oak finish frame. f. Easels - Free standing boards i. Offered in sizes 28" x 36", 28" x 34", 27" x 39", 26"x 35", 27" x 35" and 29" x 38" ii. Offered in both magnetic and melamine white boards. iii. Offered with double-sided total erase boards. iv. Offered with U-shaped legs, four legs and three legs. 2. Meet and/or exceed the FAR and other published Federal standards, including Executive Orders and applicable agency-unique requirements. To be considered for the partner opportunity, the following criteria at a minimum must be met by the commercial manufacturer: 1. Possession of a nationally-known brand name that can be demonstrated to have significant appeal through evidence of substantial sales and market share. 2. Ability to offer a complete line of wallboards, easels, and tripods. 3. Willingness to enter into a multi-year agreement, which includes on-going engineering, technical and production assistance while enabling the Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc. (Seattle, WA) to meet the suitability criteria of the ABILITYONE Program in the production of product line. 4. Ability to grant access to competitively priced, high quality 3rd party negotiated priced raw materials. 5. Ability to instruct the Lighthouse on design and manufacturing processes, so that the Lighthouse can create employment for people who are blind or severely disabled. 6. The chosen commercial manufacturer must be willing to set a high priority for delivering the materials to the Lighthouse in order to assure the agency of on-time deliveries to the end-use customers. 7. Commitment to working cooperatively with ABILITYONE personnel to market the products to Government customers under the ABILITYONE Program. 8. Willingness to work with the Lighthouse, NIB and the US AbilityOne Commission to ensure that the products' price to end-users is a fair and reasonable price. 9. Manufacturers' submissions must demonstrate that the specific products meet the various criteria, as well as indicate what functions the nonprofit agency's employees would perform. Submission should recommend ways to maximize the employment for people who are blind or severely disabled in the fulfillment of the products. The deadline for response is October 18, 2017. The WRITTEN, ELECTRONIC, response should be directed to the contact listed in this Notice. Responses should address each of the product and manufacturer criteria specified above. Questions should be directed, in writing, to Judy Szabo at
[email protected] NOTE: The e-mail's subject line should begin with ‘Question: Sources Sought CP-09-18-17-01 Product Name/Category