The purpose of this Amendment is to require all vendors responding to this solicitation to register in the General Services Administration (GSA), Information Technology Solutions Shop (ITSS) automated system. Consequently, proposals in response to this solicitation should be submitted via GSA's, ITSS automated system. The registration process should take an estimated 45 minutes or less depending upon the availability of company information required to complete the process. Please proceed using the following information. GSA IT Solutions Shop (ITSS) Home Page e-Comm: http://it-solutions.gsa.gov or IP: http://63.240.209.101 GSA ITSS DEMO TRAINING SITE e-Comm: http://www.itssdemo.com or IP:http://63.163.15.25 Phone: (877) 243-2889 Option 1 GSA ITSS Technical Support, Phone: (877) 243-2889 Option 2 GSA ITSS Registration, Phone: (877) 243-2889 Option 3 GSA ITOMS Technical Support, Fax: (858) 547-8269 GSA ITSS Registration Helpdesk Fax. General Services Administration, Federal Technology (GSA/FTS), Region 5 is announcing its intent to award this procurement as a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial products and services. This notice is prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6 and supplemented with additional information included herein. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation. Proposals are being requested. A written solicitation will not be issued. This solicitation is issued as a request for proposal (RFP); solicitation number GS05T02BMM2805, which incorporates provisions and clauses that are in effect through FAC 2001-6. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code 541511 applies. Size standard is $21 Million. This requirement is to provide technical support for the development of some initial implementations of MOVES; the contractor shall provide software development support services. Background: As part of the Office of Air and Radiation, EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality (OTAQ) administers portions of Title II of the Clean Air Act, as amended in 1977 and 1990. Within OTAQ, the Assessment and Standards Division (ASD) does a wide range of work in support of EPA's efforts in air quality analysis. These efforts include creating and revising emissions estimation tools, developing regulatory impact analyses, testing vehicles, supporting the vehicle inspection and maintenance programs, and other related projects. OTAQ's current series of air emission estimation models are based on MOBILE6: MOBILE6.0 - A basic version of the model used to estimate emissions of HC, CO, and NOx. MOBILE6.1 An enhanced version of MOBILE to estimate emissions of particulate matter, gaseous SO2, and ammonia. MOBILE6.2 - A version of MOBILE enhanced to estimate emissions of a variety of air toxic compounds. MOBILE6.3 - A version of MOBILE enhanced to estimate emissions of the "green-house" gas CO2. Estimation of CO2 implies that this version of MOBILE will also estimate vehicle fuel economy. Additional conceptual software design work has been undertaken including: Top-Level documentation of the approximately 20 "Use Cases" the new generation of mobile source models is intended to eventually fulfill. A partial, preliminary software design as represented in "NGM Object Oriented Design" revision 5 of which was produced by Cimulus, Inc on November 30, 2001. This design focuses on the "core" vehicle activity and emission result calculation aspects of the model in a generic fashion. A top-level identification of the software classes and graphical user interface (gui) characteristics that would be needed to fully support the use cases. (This information is available in documents entitled EPA's plan is to design and code MOVES in-house with contractor assistance. MOVES represent EPA's collective integrated knowledge of mobile source emissions. The process of designing and coding MOVES is primarily a process of assembling, evaluating, integrating, and rigorously formalizing our understanding of mobile source emissions. This is a process that only EPA can undertake. EPA can, however, contract for assistance with the nuts and bolts of software design and coding. This contract is intended to provide EPA with that assistance. EPA's software development paradigm is iterative. We plan to program one use case at a time, and add functionality with each release. The advantage is that we are not wasting time and money designing things that will have radically changed by the time we get to them. The risk is that a near-term programming decision may interfere with the future coding of a use case that we have not adequately designed for. We minimize that risk by creating a high-level overall design that includes everything we expect to develop and be flexible. We design in detail only the next release. That way, we do not spend too much time on things that will change anyway, but we lower our risk of having trouble doing something that we want to do later. The risk is additionally lowered by the practice of refactoring (reworking code as needed). Refactoring, in turn, is supported by the concurrent development and maintenance of test suites for all classes, packages, and the program as a whole. Description: The objective of this project is to provide technical support for the development of some initial implementations of MOVES. This technical support has four objectives: 1. Help EPA/OTAQ to complete, document, and operate an initial "infrastructure" for development of the MOVES software and to advise EPA/OTAQ regarding the further evolution of this infrastructure to meet the needs of the MOVES project as it progresses. 2. Work with EPA to produce a software design for MOVES which: 3. Use the MOVES design and the software development infrastructure to produce and test initial implementations of the new generation model. 4. Advise, assist, and provide training to OTAQ staff regarding software development tools and methods. All work to be performed by the contractor will be defined in greater detail in particular "task descriptions" to be issued to the contractor by EPA. The goal of each individual task is to produce the deliverables it requires within the schedule contained in its task description or task plan. Skills and Expertise: The Contractor shall provide technical expertise for the development of computer modeling software. The Contractor shall provide expertise in object-oriented system analysis and design, object-oriented software development and testing, and in producing clear documentation. The Contractor shall provide staff familiar with the goals and preliminary MOVES design, appropriate functional skills including: management of complicated, multi-part tasks; scientific system software design; programming in Java, SQL-based Data Base Management Software, C++, and software documentation. The Contractor shall identify key personnel to perform the technical work described in this SOW. These personnel will be committed to the project for its duration and shall not be substituted or replaced without written agreement of the Client Representative. Deliverables: The Contractor shall provide software development support services for the Assessment and Standards Division (ASD) of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality. Work shall be performed off-site. Generally, EPA shall request work products by means of formal task descriptions, which shall delineate specific objectives, deliverables, and constraints including priority indicators and completion dates. Actual task descriptions will be issued following contract award. The specific format and structure may vary by task at EPA discretion. Within two working days of receipt of a task description the Contractor shall inform the Client Representative and Technical Contact that the Contractor accepts the task description as written, or shall provide the Client Representative and Technical Contact with a written request for changes in the task description or delivery date. EPA shall consider such Contractor requests and revise the work order as EPA judges necessary. Whether or not the work order is revised, the Contractor shall be responsible for delivering all end items specified in accepted task description by the task completion date. All deliverables must be of professional quality and must meet the requirements set forth in this SOW and in the specific task description. The contractor shall work within the "software development infrastructure" described above and shall comply with its requirements. The Contractor shall provide all source code and data tables used to develop specific applications. All products developed under this task order are the property of the Environmental Protection Agency. In addition to the deliverables required by individual task descriptions, this statement of work requires the following deliverables: During the execution of task assignments the Contractor shall conduct a meeting in person every week, or more often if necessary, with the EPA Technical Contacts. The Contractor shall provide EPA with a weekly oral report on Contractor activity and progress, including any issues to be resolved and any actual or forecast variances against work order commitments, and options for resolution of these variances. The contractor shall begin each task with the latest possible version of the MOVES software and provide EPA with updated copies of the source code on at least a weekly basis, identifying the version of the model, which was the basis for the changes, and the modules (including automated tests) added, changed and deleted relative to that version. As defined by particular tasks deliverables will typically include tests designed to insure that the code functions as required. Special Instructions: GSA through its Client Agency Client Representative shall perform Management of this project. A Client Representative shall be established for all government and Contractor meetings, technical guidance and product deliverables. The Client Representative shall identify EPA Technical Contacts capable of providing the Contractor with technical assistance and clarification required for the performance of specific tasks. The Contractor shall initiate work on this project by meeting with key Client Agency Representatives to insure a common understanding of the requirement, expectations, and ultimate end products. The Contractor shall discuss the overall understanding of the project and review the background information and materials provided by the client. Discussions shall also include the scope of work, deliverables to be produced, how the efforts shall be organized and the project conducted, assumptions made, and expected end results. A concerted effort shall be made to gain a thorough understanding of the Client Agency expectations. However, nothing discussed in this or in any subsequent meetings or discussions between the client and the Contractor shall be construed as adding, deleting, or modifying any Task Order requirements, including deliverable specifications and due dates. TECHNICAL EVALUATION CRITERIA: Each offeror shall submit a technical proposal identifying 1-2 key personnel for this project, and describing the knowledge and experience of the offeror and the key personnel relative to this requirement in three areas: a. Mobile source emission data, emission rate estimation and emission models. b. Object-oriented software design. c. Object-oriented software development. These descriptions should emphasize how this knowledge and experience relates to this requirement and how the required services will be provided to OTAQ in Ann Arbor, MI. This award will be a best value procurement and will take into consideration the following technical evaluation criteria in addition to price: 1. Past performance of the offeror in the three areas listed above that is highly relevant to this requirement. 2. Knowledge and experience of proposed key personnel in the three areas listed above that is directly relevant to this requirement. The effectiveness with which the contractor proposes to provide the required services and deliver the required products to OTAQ in Ann Arbor, MI. The Government reserves the right to award based on the information provided, without discussions. Proposals submitted shall be in sufficient detail to allow for thorough evaluation. OTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS, Security Clearance Level: The Contractor shall not divulge any information acquired in the course of the task order with respect to data, output, EPA file structures, data processing activities or functions, user ID, passwords or any other knowledge that may be gained in the course of this work, to anyone who is not authorized by EPA to have access to such information. Also, due to the sensitive and sometimes confidential nature of the information processed, Contractor personnel shall sign appropriate confidentiality agreement forms, and shall be briefed as to which information requires special handling. Full text of a clause may be accessed electronically at this address: http://www.arnet.gov/far. FAR 52.212-1 applies to this acquisition. FAR 52.212-2 shall apply to this acquisition with evaluation criterion being low price upon determination of technical acceptance. PROPOSALS SHALL INCLUDE A COMPLETED COPY OF THE PROVISIONS AT FAR 52.212-3. FAR 52.212-4 applies to this acquisition. FAR 52.212-5 applies to this acquisition -- FAR 52.212-5(b): The following additional FAR clauses apply to this acquisition: 52.222-26, 52.222-35, 52.222-36, 52.222-37, 52.225-5, and 52.232-33. Offers are due no later than April 30, 2002, 3:00 p.m., Central Standard Time, to GSA/FTS (Region 5), Attention Charles Dukes, 230 S. Dearborn Street, Room 3380, Chicago, IL 60604. Electronic copies of the Statement of Work are available upon request to Charles Dukes by e-mail at
[email protected]. Interested Offeror's shall submit technical questions to Charlene Bumphis,
[email protected] or call (312) 886-3791 no later than 4/23/02.