This is a REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI). This is not a request for proposals and does not obligate the Government to award a contract. All responsible businesses, including small businesses are encouraged to respond to this RFI. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Office of Training is conducting market research and requests input from industry to assist in requirements planning. The information requested by this RFI will be used within the DEA to facilitate the decision making process and acquisition planning. The DEA will not be responsible for any cost incurred by interested parties in responding to this RFI. All information received in response to this RFI that is marked proprietary will be handled accordingly. Responses to the RFI will not be returned. The purpose of this RFI is to: (1) Gather vendor capabilities, (2) Solicit industry comments to the attached rough draft Statement of Work (SOW); and (3) Invite vendors to meet with DEA to discuss comments and best business practices. Please note that participation in this RFI is optional, and not mandatory or necessary for participation as an offeror in a later related solicitation for this requirement. THE OFFICE OF TRAINING, OR ANY OTHER DEA OFFICE OR EMPLOYEE SHOULD NOT BE CONTACTED FOR ANY REASON REGARDING THIS REQUEST FOR INFORMATION. ALL COMMUNICATION MUST GO THROUGH CONTRACT SPECIALIST CLAIRE WHITLEY. 1. Capabilities Capabilities shall include the following company information, which does not count against the page limitation below: (1) Company name, point of contact, address, telephone and fax numbers, email address, DUNS number, business size category (large, small, small disadvantaged, etc.). If a distributor, the aforementioned company information of the ballistic shield manufacturer(s) used by your company shall be provided as well. (2) Evidence of experience and expertise providing ballistic shields similar to this requirement. (3) Evidence of the ability to currently produce a ballisctic shield meeting ALL of the specifications outlined in this requirement. (4) Evidence of NIJ certification(s) 2. Comments to Draft Statement of Work DEA is seeking to ensure that the SOW for this requirement is in line with industry standards and commercial best practices. In accordance with this goal, DEA is providing the draft SOW for industry comments. Please note that while DEA is providing the draft SOW for comment, DEA also welcomes any comments related to this requirement, even if they do not relate to an item contained in the draft SOW. Comments shall not exceed five (5) pages. Pages shall be standard size 8.5 x 11 inches, printed on one side, and print shall be standard 10 point (or larger) in Times New Roman or Arial font. Title page, table of contents, and appendices will not be counted towards the page limit. Any Microsoft Office program and Adobe PDF file types are accepted. The file size limitation is 10MB. Larger files must be split and sent in separate emails. The Government reserves the right to make the ultimate decision as to whether or not such proposed comments are incorporated into the final SOW. Capabilities and Comments shall be emailed to Contract Specialist Claire Rotruck at
[email protected] no later than 11:00am EST on Tuesday, January 21, 2014. 3. Meetings at the Office of Training The DEA is also interested in meeting with potential offerors individually to further discuss this requirement, comments to the draft SOW, and vendor capabilities. All meetings will take place at the DEA Office of Training located at 2500 Investigation Pkwy, Quantico, VA. Meetings will last a maximum of one (1) hour in length. A maximum of ten (10) minutes will be alotted towards discussing vendor capabilities, while the remainder of the time will be alotted for discussing comments regarding the SOW, commercial best practices, and industry standards. A limited number of meetings will be held on January 31, 2014 and will be assigned on a first come first serve basis. Please email Contract Specialist Claire Rotruck at
[email protected] to request a meeting (with your preferred time frame) as soon as possible (do not wait for the RFI deadline to request a meeting). Included with your request, the attached Request for Visitor Escorted Access Form for each attendee must be submitted. Late requests will not be accepted and anyone without an appointment will not be permitted on base. The Government reserves the right to deny access to appointment attendees based on the results of the Visitor Escorted Access security check. The Government will provide notice of those approved and denied access no later than Friday, January 24, 2014.