REQUEST FOR INFORMATION Appraisal Valuation and Services Office (AVSO) Department of the Interior Office of the Secretary 1.0 Description 1.1 The Department of the Interior, in support of the Appraisal Valuation and Services Office (AVSO) is seeking information on how an interested commercial appraiser is certifying their Representations and Certifications at clause 52.222-52 entitled Exemption from Application of the Service Contract Labor Standards to Contracts for Certain Services - Certification as follows: CERTIFICATION The offeror does [ ] does not certify that- (1) The services under the contract are offered and sold regularly to non-Governmental customers, and are provided by the offeror (or subcontractor in the case of an exempt subcontract) to the general public in substantial quantities in the course of normal business operations; (2) The contract services are furnished at prices that are, or are based on, established catalog or market prices. An "established catalog price" is a price included in a catalog, price list, schedule, or other form that is regularly maintained by the manufacturer or the offeror, is either published or otherwise available for inspection by customers, and states prices at which sales currently, or were last, made to a significant number of buyers constituting the general public. An "established market price" is a current price, established in the usual course of ordinary and usual trade between buyers and sellers free to bargain, which can be substantiated from sources independent of the manufacturer or offeror; (3) Each service employee who will perform the services under the contract will spend only a small portion of his or her time (a monthly average of less than 20 percent of the available hours on an annualized basis, or less than 20 percent of available hours during the contract period if the contract period is less than a month) servicing the Government contract; and (4) The offeror uses the same compensation (wage and fringe benefits) plan for all service employees performing work under the contract as the offeror uses for these employees and for equivalent employees servicing commercial customers. 1.2 THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY . This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes - it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This request for information does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Further, DOI is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Respondees are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party's expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP or RFQ, if any are issued. If a solicitation over $25,000 is released, it will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website. It is the responsibility of the potential offerors to monitor this site for additional information. 2.0 Background The Appraisal Valuation and Services Office and the requirements of FAR 52.222-41 -- Service Contract Labor Standards as they apply to land appraisal services. FAR 52.222-52, Exemption From Application of the Service Contract Labor Standards to Contracts for Certain Services-Certification requires that (A) the appraiser self-attest that it meets the prescribed conditions as detailed in 52.222-52 (in SAM), OR, (B) if the appraiser does not wish to certify that it meets the prescribed conditions, the Agency is required to insert Service Contract Labor Standards (SCLS) clauses in the contract and provide a current wage determination applicable to the state/county the assignment will occur. In order to be procedurally compliant, either A or B must be met. A) If an appraiser attests (in SAM) that they meet the prescribed conditions at FAR 52.222-52, Service Contract Labor Standards clauses and the applicable wage determination will not be included in the resulting contract. B) If an appraiser does not attest (in SAM) that they meet the prescribed standards at FAR 52.222-52, the applicable Service Contract Labor Standards clauses along with the applicable wage determination must be included in the contract. 3.0 Requested Information 3.1 Interested parties are requested to respond to this RFI by providing the following information no later than July 31, 2018, 17:00 ET: 3.2 A written response shall be limited to one (1) page, in which the appraiser indicates whether or not it will certify the entity meets the prescribed conditions at 52.222-52to be exempt. A. Have you previously certified that you meet the conditions prescribed at FAR 52.222-52? B. Do you plan to certify that you meet conditions at FAR 52.222-52? C. Please explain why you believe you do not meet the prescribed conditions to be exempt? The basis of the entity's response should be clearly explained and submitted via e-mail only to the AVSO Chief of Contracting,
[email protected] Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. To aid the Government, please segregate proprietary information. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned 3.3. The response shall provide administrative information, and shall include the following as a minimum: 3.3.1. Entity Name, mailing address, overnight delivery address (if different from mailing address), phone number, fax number, and e-mail of designated point of contact. 3.3.2. Business type (large business, small business, small disadvantaged business, 8(a)-certified small disadvantaged business, HUBZone small business, woman-owned small business, very small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business) based upon North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 531320, Real Estate Appraisal Services. "Small business concern" means a concern, including its affiliates that is independently owned and operated, not dominant in the field of operation in which it is bidding on Government contracts, and qualified as a small business under the criteria and size standards in 13 CFR part 121. A small business concern for the purposes of this procurement is generally defined as a business, including its affiliates, averaging no more than $7.5 million dollars in annual receipts. Annual receipts of a concern that has been in business for 3 or more complete fiscal years means the annual average gross revenue of the concern taken for the last 3 fiscal years. Annual receipts of a concern that has been in business for less than 3 complete fiscal years means its total receipts for the period it has been in business, divided by the number of weeks including fractions of a week that it has been in business, and multiplied by 52. Respondees are cautioned, however, that this is a general description only. Additional standards and conditions apply. Please refer to Federal Acquisition Regulation FAR 19 for additional detailed information on Small Business Size Standards. The FAR is available at http://www.arnet.gov. 4.0 Questions and/or Requests for Additional Information Questions and/or requests for additional information regarding this announcement and the entity's response shall be submitted in writing by e-mail to the Contracting Officer,
[email protected] Verbal questions will NOT be accepted. Please indicate Request For Information in the email subject line. Questions will be answered by posting answers to the FBO website; accordingly, questions shall NOT contain proprietary or classified information. The Government does not guarantee that questions received after July 31, 2018, 1700 ET will be answered. To access the website, go to https://FBO.Gov and conduct a search using NAICS 521320 or by entering the keywords, Request for Information. Interested parties are invited to subscribe to the website to ensure they receive any important information updates connected with this RFI. To subscribe, click on https://FBO.gov 5.0 Summary THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY to identify sources that can provide information related to the certification required at 52-222.52, Exemption From Application of the Service Contract Labor Standards to Contracts for Certain Services-Certification. The information provided in the RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. The Department has not made a commitment to procure specific appraisal services, and release of this RFI should not be construed as such a commitment or as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement would be required or sought. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned.