Description
This is a SOURCES SOUGHT SYNOPSIS for market research purposes. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS. INFORMATION RECEIVED WILL BE USED FOR MARKET RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY. The National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) is seeking vendors who can provide office supplies, on an as-needed basis, for the NIST Storeroom and Warehouse, located on the NIST Campus in Gaithersburg, MD. The NIST Storeroom and Warehouse is an 11,500 square foot facility, with a 2,700 square foot sales floor, located in Building 301 on the NIST Campus. The Storeroom is a part of the NIST Administrative Services Division, Logistics Storeroom Section. Their mission is to service customers better than anyone else could serve them and provide customers the highest quality, variety and convenience. The Storeroom stocks the following commodities for use by NIST personnel: Electronics, Tools & Hardware, Electrical Supplies, Plumbing Supplies, Metals, Chemistry Products, Office Supplies, Building Materials, and Forms & Letterhead. The Storeroom also maintains an on-line catalog to provide NIST personnel with current information on items available. The commodity being sought out via this sources sought notice is Office Supplies. Other commodities may be sought out via future notices. This notice is not seeking vendors to facilitate the operation of the storeroom, but, to provide office supplies to stock the storeroom and provide bar coding of those office supplies on an as-needed basis. NIST spends approximately $400,000 per year to stock the storeroom with commercial office supplies. Currently, the NIST/Acquisition Management Division (AMD) procures office supplies via individual Government Delivery Orders or Purchase Orders as quantities of different items are required. While this process has been successful, AMD is evaluating the benefits of consolidating the procurement of each of these components in order to expedite the procurement process, as well as to obtain more significant discounts for these procurements that are inherent in long term contractual vehicles, up to five years in length. NIST IS SEEKING SERVICE-DISABLED VETERAN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESSES TO FULFILL THE REQUIREMENTS BELOW. IF NIST IS ABLE TO LOCATE TWO OR MORE SERVICE-DISABLED VETERAN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESSES THAT CAN SATISFY NIST?S NEEDS AT A FAIR MARKET VALUE, NIST WILL PROCEED WITH A SERVICE-DISABLED VETERAN OWNED SMALL BUSINESS SET-ASIDE. IF TWO OR MORE SERVICE-DISABLED VETERAN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESSES CANNOT BE LOCATED, NIST WILL PURSUE AN ALTERNATE SOCIO-ECONOMIC SET-ASIDE. THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CATEGORY WILL BE DETERMINED AT A LATER DATE. Vendors must be able to provide all of the following: 1. Commercial office products; 2. On-line ordering with the ability to print order acknowledgements and e-mail confirmation; 3. The ability to bar code each UNIT with a NIST specific bar code. This does not refer to the Universal Product Code (UPC) on all items. NIST has a five (5) digit stock number, unique to each item of supply. This 5 digit number must be applied to each unit purchased. NIST currently uses the "Bar Code Anything" software program. Use of this program is not required, however, the bar code label must meet the following size criteria: Width = 1.75 inches; Height = 1/2 inch; +/- 1/2" variance in label size is acceptable. Prior to delivery of an order, each UNIT must be barcoded. For example if NIST orders 450 boxes of 200 paper clips, each of the 450 boxes must have its own label applied with that item?s unique stock number. 4. Shrink wrap and palletize orders and ship in a neat and orderly manner. If multiple pallets are to be delivered, each pallet shall be provided with an itemized packaging list that identifies each item on that pallet and the quantity of each item on the pallet; 5. Deliver products, complete with bar codes, not later than 3 weeks after receipt of an order; 6. A designated customer service representative to handle questions, issues and problems that may arise either in person, via telephone, or via e-mail. Vendors must provide detailed information on their experience and expertise with respect to the above, an on-line ordering link to their website, and any other information considered pertinent to the requirements above to Carol A. Wood, Contract Specialist, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Acquisition Management Division, 100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 1640, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-1640. Information submitted must be specific and address each of the above points. Submissions must be received by 3:00 p.m. local time on February 22, 2007. Original and e-mail submissions are acceptable. Vendors shall identify their business size as Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business in accordance with North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code 453210; the Small Business Size Standard is 100 employees.