U. S. DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR ACQUISITION DIRECTORATE (AQD), HERNDON, VIRGINIA REQUIREMENT FOR ON-LINE ACCESS TO DATABASES OF TRACKED LEGISLATION AND REGULATIONS OF GOVERNMENTAL BODIES NATIONWIDE, INCLUDING U. S. TERRITORIES This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotes are being requested and a separate written solicitation will not be issued. The solicitation number for this action is D16PS00074, and the solicitation is issued as a request for quotations (RFQ). AQD is a franchise fund, fee-for-service entity that operates within the Department of Interior and supplies other federal agencies with procurement support under authority of the Government Management Reform Act of 1994 (Public Law 104-208, as amended). This acquisition is being processed by AQD on behalf of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), which operates pursuant to Public Law 112-96 (2012). The purpose of AQD's acquisition is to support FirstNet in carrying out its mission and responsibilities under its enabling legislation by providing online-based tools from various sources that will allow FirstNet to do the following: A. Survey, analyze and track new and proposed federal laws and regulations, and B. Survey, analyze and track new and proposed laws and regulations of all states, Indian tribal governments and U. S. territories. The overall goal is to subscribe to the services of the constellation of contractors whose products will cover the broadest range of sources of legislation in the most cost effective combination. Analysis of the information to be supplied will be performed by FirstNet to make predictions, to extrapolate, prognosticate, estimate and plan strategies. The most advantageous products a company could make available to FirstNet would be those that include the company's own analysis, interpretations, predictions and advice. The acquisition is being conducted on a "brand name or equal" basis (authority: FAR 11.104) and FAR clause 52.211-6, Brand Name or Equal, applies, which is incorporated herein by reference. That does not mean that an offer will not be considered if the data that can be retrieved using the offered on-line tool does not make available to FirstNet the full range of data that named brand products supply. The government anticipates that more than one contract or order will likely result from this solicitation and reserves the right to make multiple contract awards if it is determined by the Contracting Officer that doing so would be in the government's best interests. The government has identified name-brand products of firms that commercially disseminate the type of information that FirstNet needs. They include "Prophecy", "Sonar" and similar from FiscalNote, "Bloomberg Government" from Bloomberg Finance LP, "PoliticoPro" from Politico and CQ Roll Call's "Federal Legislative Tracking", "CQ State Track", and its "Transcripts and Testimony" products. There is no incumbent contractor; this is a new requirement. The government is aware that it is unlikely any offeror, including one or more of the companies named above will be able to cover all of the authorities that originate legislation and regulations throughout the geographic area that FirstNet needs to cover. The government seeks offers from those firms that the government has thus far been able to identify through market research as well as offers from as yet unknown companies. Refer to the sections on "Instructions to Offerors and "Evaluation Factors for Award", below, to learn how to configure your firm's quotation and what factors the government will apply as it evaluates offers consistent with requirements in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR 52.212-2 - Evaluation - Commercial Items). A PPLICABILITY OF GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT REGULATIONS The following provisions and clauses apply to this solicitation and to resulting orders or contracts: A. The provision at FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors--Commercial Items. B. 52.212-2 -- Evaluation -- Commercial Items The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered . C. 52.212-3, Offeror, Representations and Certifications- Commercial Items. The offeror must include a completed copy of this provision with their quote. If the firm has posted an electronic version of the Representations and Certifications on the government's Central Contractor Registration (CCR) website at http://www.ccr.gov , no emailed or hard copy needs to be provided. All offerors must be registered to have offers considered. Contact the contracting officer for assistance with registration. D. 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items. E. 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or F. Executive Orders Commercial Items (including FAR 52.203-6; 52.219-8; 52.219- 14; 52.222-26; 52.222-35; 52.222-36; 52.222-37; 52.225-1; 52.225-3; 52.225-13; 52.219-6; 52.232-33; 52.222-21; and 52.222-43). The FAR is accessible on line at http://acquisition.gov/far If your firm has questions or needs clarifications about any aspect of this solicitation, address them to the contracting officer via the email address below, that is immediately above the section "Evaluation Factors for award" no later than 4:30 P.M. EDT on Wednesday, November 25 , 2015 . Quotes in the form of a descriptive cover letter, promotional materials including commercial price lists are to be received no later than to be considered for award. The commercial price list is needed to determine the discount, if any, that is being offered to the government. The cover letter must indicate that terms in this solicitation are acceptable (which will apply to any subsequent order) or state against which specific terms or conditions the offeror takes exception. The closing date for the receipt of the quotation by the contracting officer at the email address below is 4:30PM, EDT on Wednesday, December 2, 2015. If your firm can supply access to your system/product for review purposes, provide instructions with the quote. If your firm sends CDs or other media on which sample content is provided for examination by prospective clients, email the contracting officer for the postal address to use to send the materials. If the material on media can be downloaded, provide instructions with the quotation on how the government's technical evaluation panel chairperson can retrieve the materials. With respect to prices, the government requires the following: A. Price each distinct product with supplemental pricing for all "upgrades" and enhancements to be unbundled. B. Supply a price for one base year of access and a price table for subsequent option years that will apply if the government exercises an option to extend the term of the awarded order or contract. If long-term subscriptions (i.e., two or three years) are available and priced at a greater discount than one year only, indicate the retroactive rebates that would accrue to the government upon completion of the longer applicable period (i.e., after the completion of a base year and one or two option year extensions). Supply the pricing above on the basis on one user and indicate the quantity discounts that will apply if the government issues an order or contract for many users (i.e., one to five users, six to ten users, each additional, and so on.) Quotations are to show the net price to the government, and indicate the percentage of discount that has been given from commercial pricing. FirstNet anticipates it will initially need to provide service access to six employees. The resulting contract or order will include options to increase quantities of users to be given access. Those users may be contractor employees that FirstNet may engage from time to time. Indicate in your quote, whether or not your firm will allow non-governmental access through option exercise at the quoted prices. It may be that the users (employees and contractor employees alike) will need access for periods shorter than one year. Indicate in your quote that your firm will allow the government to reduce the number of individuals having access without penalty and under what conditions (i.e., by use of monthly billing or pro rating that may be ended for one or more users on a case by case basis at the end of a billing cycle, or similar). All quotations and accompanying materials not on disks or printed (with offeror Representations and Certifications in cases where your firm has not filed these online) are to be e-mailed to
[email protected] . Hard copies by mail are not required or desired. EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD FAR 52.212-2 Evaluation-Commercial Items (Oct 2014) a. The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers: (1) Breadth and depth of geographic coverage and ease accessibility to the data (the single technical factor) form the most important factor. Past performance and Price are the other two factors. Past performance (i.e., the offeror's record of how comprehensive and accurate reporting has been to other clients under terms of past contracts with others for work similar in scope to the government's requirement, the firm's record of overall responsiveness and responsibility) together with Price are not as important as the technical factor. (2) With respect to the technical factor as it relates to breadth of coverage, greatest credit will be given to the quote for the product or group of products each offeror proposes to supply, that deliver data gathered from all fifty states, the District of Columbia, tribal areas and all of the U. S. dependent territories overseas. With respect to depth of coverage, credit will be given to the product or set of products that reports on legislative and regulatory activities with insightful analysis of the federal government, activities in the most states, tribal areas and territories. With respect to accessibility of data, greatest credit will be given to offerors that make all of their material available via the internet through an easily navigable website that permits material to be downloaded and manipulated (extracted, edited, sorted and filtered) using commonly available commercial software. b. Options. The Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. The Government may determine that an offer is unacceptable if the option prices are significantly unbalanced. Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s). AWARD A written notice of award or acceptance of an offer, mailed or otherwise furnished to the successful offeror within the time for acceptance specified in the offer, shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party. Before the offer's specified expiration time, the Government may accept an offer (or part of an offer), whether or not there are negotiations after its receipt, unless a written notice of withdrawal a quote is received from the offeror prior to award.