This is a combined synopsis/solicitation requirement for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6 as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; offers are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 05-06. The North American Industry Classification Code (NAICS) is 313221. UNICOR intends to enter into firm fixed price Requirements type contract. Requested item(s) are as follows: SEE SECTION B ATTACHED for item description and estimated quantities. Delivery will be up to 45 days (ARO) from receipt of delivery order. FAR 52.247-34 FOB Destination applies. Delivery will be FOB Destination with a ship address of UNICOR, Federal Prison Industries, 1000 Airbase Road, Pollock, LA 71467. Contracting Officer Representative (COTR) is Mr. Jon Schreckengost, 318-561-5424 and Unicor, Federal Prison Industries, 1000 University Drive, S.W., Waseca, MN 56093. Contracting Officer Technical Representative (COTR) is Steve Jacobs, 507-835-8972, ext: 3403. THE CONTRACTING OFFICER HAS OPTED TO CONDUCT A COMPETITIVE, ANONYMOUS, ON-LINE REVERSE AUCTION USING GLOBAL ePROCURE. Any questions or concerns regarding this solicitation MUST be addressed in writing or e-mail to the attention of John Carlock, Contracting Officer,
[email protected]. FAR 52.246.1, Contractor Inspection Requirements FAR 52.246-15, Certificate of Conformance applies. FAR 52.246-16, Responsibility for Supplies FAR 52.252-2, Clauses Incorporated by Reference Provision FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors Commercial, applies to this acquisition. FAR52.212-2, Evaluation-Commercial Items applies. Evaluation of offers will be based on past performance, price and ability to meet specs. FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions--Commercial Items (OCT 2003) DEVIATION, "This contract is not subject to the Contract Disputes Act of 1978, as amended (41 U.S.C. 601-613). Disputes arising under or relating to this contract shall be resolved in accordance with clause FAR 52.233-1 Disputes (JUL 2002) (DEVIATION), which is incorporated herein by reference. The Contractor shall proceed diligently with performance of this contract, pending final resolution of any dispute arising under the contract. To view the full text clause FAR 52.233-1 Disputes (JUL 2002) (DEVIATION), go to select Business Opportunities, then select Deviation." 52.233-2 Service of Protest. (Aug 1996) (a) Protests, as defined in section 33.101 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, that are filed directly with an agency, and copies of any protests that are filed with the General Accounting Office (GAO), shall be served on the Contracting Officer (addressed as follows) by obtaining written and dated acknowledgment of receipt from Chief, InterAgency Solutions and Procurement Branch, Unicor, 400 1st Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20534 . (b) The copy of any protest shall be received in the office designated above within one day of filing a protest with the GAO. 52.233-3 Protest after Award FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statues or Executive Orders-Commercial Items, applies, which includes FAR 52.203-6. FAR 52.204-6, Contractor Identification Number Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS): ______________________applies. FAR 52.216-18, Ordering, orders may be issued under the resulting contract from the date of award. FAR 52.216-19, Delivery Order Limitation applies with (a) minimum order of 10,000 each;(b)(1) maximum order for a single item in excess of 160,000 each;(b)(2) any order for a combination in excess of 160,000 each per item, contractor will not be obligated to honor. Contractor will not be obligated to honor a series of orders from the same ordering office, within a 15 day period that together call for quantities exceeding the maximum order limitations. However, the contractor shall honor orders exceeding the maximum order limitations unless the order or orders is returned to the ordering office within seven (7) calendar days after issuance with a written statement expressing the contractors intent not to ship. FAR 52.216-21 Requirements, FAR 52.211-16 Variation in Quantity applies with 5% increase and 0% decrease. FAR 52,232-18 Availability of Funds applies. FAR 52.242-15 Stop Work applies. FAR 52.232-15 Progress Payments Not Included applies. FAR 4.1201(a), Prospective contractors shall complete electronic annual representations and certifications at http://orca.bpn.gov in conjunction with required registration in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database www.ccr.gov (see FAR 4.1102). (b) Prospective contractors shall update the representations and certifications submitted to ORCA as necessary, but at least annually, to ensure they are kept current, accurate, and complete. The representations and certifications are effective until one year from date of submission or update to ORCA. To make a change that affects only one solicitation, contractors are required to complete the appropriate sections of FAR 52.212-(j)or 52.204-8 whichever is included in the solicitation. ALL contractors MUST be registered at time of award with the Contractor Performance System at http://cps.od.nih.gov. Click on the hypertext link Registration for Existing Contracts under Contractor Information. Read the information provided on the page and click on the hypertext link https://cpscontractor.nih.gov. This will put you at the login screen of the Contractor Performance System. On the right side of the screen you will see the question, Registered to the NEW CPS yet? under Bulletins. Click on the hypertext link here and enter the required information. If you have questions, contact Technical Support at
[email protected] or call JoAnn, Paulette, or Alex at 301/451-2771. Offeror must hold prices firm for 90 days from the date specified for receipt of offers. Offers or modifications to offerors after the exact time specified may not be considered. FPI 1000I1 PREFERENCE FOR CERTAIN DOMESTIC COMMODITIES (MAY 1994) Supplement: LCL APPR (a) The Contractor agrees to deliver under this contract only such of the following articles that have been grown, reprocessed, reused, or produced in the United States, its possessions, or Puerto Rico-- (1) Food; (2) Clothing; (3) Tents, tarpaulins, or covers; (4) Cotton and other natural fiber products; (5) Woven silk or woven silk blends; (6) Spun silk yarn for cartridge cloth; (7) Synthetic fabric, and coated synthetic fabric; (8) Canvas products; (9) Wool (whether in the form of fiber or yarn or contained in fabrics, materials, or manufactured articles); or (10) Any item of individual equipment manufactured from or containing such fibers, yarns, fabrics, or materials. (b) This clause does not apply-- (1) To supplies listed in FAR 25.108(d)1), or other supplies for which the Government has determined that a satisfactory quality and sufficient quantity cannot be acquired as and when needed at U.S. market prices; (2) To foods which have been manufactured or processed in the United States, its possessions, or Puerto Rico; or (3) To chemical warfare protective clothing produced in the countries listed in subsection 225.872-1 of the Defense FAR Supplement. FPI 1000E1, IDENTIFICATION OF QUALIFIED LABORATORY AND SOURCE SAMPLING SOURCE SELECTION Reference FAR Clause 52.246INSPECTION OF SUPPLIES FIXED(AUG 1996), paragraph (i) (1) AND (2), inspection of material to source sampling, the following clause titled: IDENTIFICATION OF QUALIFIED LABORATORY AND SOURCE SAMPLING is hereby incorporated into and made a part of this contract: (a) The offeror or bidder shall indicate in paragraph (e) below the name and address of the laboratory or laboratories where components or end items will be tested during the course of any resultant contract. A Qualified Laboratories List (QLL) is available through the Commander, DPSC, 2800 South 20th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19101, ATTN: DPSCPOL. Any laboratory proposed by the contractor not on the QLL is subject to the approval of the Contracting Officer. (b) The Government QAR will cut samples from a lot at the textile component source and send them for testing to the Qualified Laboratory (QL) cited below. (The acceptability of each lot will be determined through the testing of these samples). In addition, the QAR will simultaneously cut samples from the same rolls of material and send them to the DPSC Laboratory. For end items, duplicate samples will be drawn. Source sampling procedures are detailed further in DPSC Manual, Quality Systems Requirement, 4155.3, which is incorporated by reference. (c) The prime contractor will notify the DPSC Laboratory in writing at least ten (10) days in advance when lots are to be presented to allow Government witnessing of QL testing. If the Government intends to witness testing, a representative from the DPSC laboratory will notify the QL. In the absence of Government notification, testing should proceed as scheduled. (d) If a laboratory is removed from the QLL during the course of a contract, DPSC will perform the required testing for up to 30 calendar days from the date of removal. The contractor is responsible for securing the services of another QL during this period. The charge for testing will be the DPSC Laboratory's effective cost rate on the date of testing. (e) Any change in the laboratory (laboratories) specified below is prohibited unless approved in advance by the Contracting Officer: NAME AND ADDRESS OF LABORATORY: [ ]. COMPONENT IDENTIFY: [ ]. NAME AND ADDRESS COMPONENT SOURCE: [ ]. * When a single lot of material requires testing by more than one laboratory for difference characteristics, list the name of the secondary laboratory and test characteristics below: NAME AND ADDRESS OF LABORATORY: [ ]. COMPONENT IDENTIFY: [ ]. TEST CHARACTERISTICS: [ ]. (f) It is solely the prime contractor's responsibility to schedule QL testing and to obtain test reports. The cost of QL testing shall also be borne by the prime contractor. (g) Shipment of component materials to the prime contractor need not be deferred pending test results except when shade approval is required (see paragraph (h)). Cutting production lots without a passing QL test report on the corresponding samples is done at the contractor's own risk. (h) Shade evaluation is acceptance testing. Therefore, component lots may not be shipped to the prime contractor until the DPSC Laboratory accepts the shade of the material. 52.215-6 Place of Performance (OCT 1997) (a) The offeror or respondent, in the performance of any contract resulting from this solicitation, ___ intends, ___ does not intend (check applicable block) to use one or more plants or facilities located at a different address from the address of the offeror or respondent as indicated in this proposal or response to request for information. (b) If the offeror or respondent checks "intends" in paragraph (a) of this provision, it shall insert in the following spaces the required information: PLACE OF PERFORMANCE NAME AND ADDRESS OF OWNER (STREET ADDRESS, CITY, AND OPERATOR OF THE PLANT STATE, COUNTY, ZIP CODE OR FACILITY IF OTHER THAN OFFEROR OR RESPONDENT __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ FPI 1000HI ECONOMIC PRICE ADJUSTMENT Supplement: LCL APPR Twelve [12] months after contract award date, contract prices for the succeeding twelve [12] month period may be adjusted in accordance with the change in the Producer Price Index for [plastic products] (product code [PCU313111) from the date of award to the date of adjustment. IT IS THE CONTRACTOR'S RESPONSIBILITY TO REQUEST THIS ADJUSTMENT. Adjustments may be requested for a period not to exceed 10 days after the eligible adjustment date. Requests that are made after the 30-day limit will not be honored and the contract pricing will not be adjusted. The contractor shall submit any requests for adjustments in writing to the contracting officer. Requests shall include a copy of the relevant index and must be within the allowed time period for adjustment. Any adjustments authorized as a result of the adjustment request will not be retroactive. The date the completed request is received by the contracting officer will be the effective date of any changes in price. The contractor also is required to request downward price adjustments. All downward adjustments will be retroactive to the authorized adjustment date as specified in this clause. If downward price adjustments are not requested and this is later revealed through audits or otherwise, the contractor shall reimburse the Government the amount overcharged plus interest. Interest will be computed at the rate set annually by the Secretary of the Treasury for late contract payments. Interest will accrue from the date the adjustment should have been made. In computing any contract price adjustment, the most recently published index as of the date of award will be compared to the most recently published index as of the date of adjustment. No adjustment shall be made if the referenced change is less than 2%. Total upward adjustment for the contract period, including any option periods, shall not exceed TEN [10]%, based on the original or option period contract price; downward adjustments are not limited. Indices are available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 600 E Street N.W., Washington, DC 20212, telephone 202/606-7706. (End of Section) 52.212-2 Evaluation - Commercial Items. (JAN 1999) (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. Past Performance 2. Technical Capabilities 2{a} Proposed resources available for Technical Assistance 2{b} Procedures for quality resolutions. 3. Price *****NOTE***** PLEASE SUBMIT A LETTER/MEMO WITH YOUR OFFER ADDRESSING EACH ELEMENT OF EVALUATION FACTOR NUMBER TWO (TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES). Tradeoff Process: It may be in the Governments best interest to consider award to other than the lowest priced offeror or other than the highest technical rated offeror. This process may include tradeoffs among cost/price and non-cost factors and allows the Government to accept other than the lowest priced proposal if the perceived benefits of the highest priced proposal are determined to merit the additional cost. NOTE: Past Performance and Technical Capabilities, when combined, are significantly more important than cost or price. (b) 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 offers 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 is received before award. OFFERORS ARE ADVISED THAT THE GOVERNMENT MAY EVALUATE PROPOSALS AND AWARD WITH OR WITHOUT DISCUSSIONS. THEREFORE, THE INITIAL PROPOSAL SHOULD CONTAIN THE OFFERORS BEST TERMS FROM A COST OR PRICE AND TECHNICAL STANDPOINT. HOWEVER, THE GOVERNMENT RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CONDUCT DISCUSSIONS IF LATER DETERMINED BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER TO BE NECESSARY. SOURCE SELECTION INFORMATION: All of the evaluation criteria in this section are Source Selection Information as per FAR 3.104. REVERSE AUCTION PROCEDURES I. GENERAL For the purpose of expediting price related discussions, the Contracting Officer has opted to conduct a competitive, anonymous, on-line reverse auction using Global eProcure. UNICOR has contracted with Global eProcure to conduct the reverse auction for this solicitation. HOWEVER, THE ON-LINE REVERSE AUCTION SHALL NOT BE CONSTRUED TO IMPLY THAT THIS SOLICITATION IS BEING CONDUCTED UNDER THE PROCEDURES SET FORTH AT FAR PART 14, SEALED BIDDING. Rather, this solicitation is being conducted under the procedures set forth at FAR Part 12, Acquisition of Commercial Items, in conjunction with the policies and procedures for solicitation, evaluation, and award prescribed in FAR Part 15, Contract by Negotiation. During the auction, Offerors will provide pricing through submission of electronic offers via the Global eProcure website. The primary pricing competition for this solicitation will be through the online reverse auction. Global eProcure will explain this process in detail and train each qualified offeror prior to the reverse auction through a simulated reverse auction. Qualified Offerors will have the ability to submit revised pricing during the auction in response to prices submitted by other offerors. The identity of offerors will not be revealed to each other during the auction. The final such revision during the auction will be considered the Offerors final proposal. The Contracting Officer reserves the right to conduct verbal or written discussions with respect to factors other than price with the Offerors at anytime prior to award. Only offerors that have been determined qualified will be permitted to participate in the auction. Offerors who are deemed qualified will be notified by the Contracting Officer. QUALIFIED OFFERORS WILL BE CONTACTED DIRECTLY BY GLOBAL EPROCURE VIA E-MAIL REGARDING PARTICIPATION IN THE REVERSE AUCTION. THE CONTACT AT GLOBAL EPROCURE WILL BE Chandana Bala, ASSOCIATE, (732) 382-6565 EXTENSION 1017, E-MAIL: “
[email protected]”. OFFERORS ARE NOT TO SUBMIT PRICING WITH THEIR INITIAL PROPOSALS. Offerors should submit all the required information stated below, except for pricing, by the deadline for submissions on January 23, 2006 at 2:00 PM ET. Pricing will only be accepted through the reverse auction. THE REQUIRED DOCUMENTS ARE AS FOLLOWS: 1. A COPY OF THE SOLICITATION (Filled Out In Its Entirety); ALONG WITH AN ORIGINAL SIGNED COPY OF STANDARD FORM 1449, WITH BLOCKS 12, 17A, 30A, AND 30C COMPLETED (REMEMBER: DO NOT FILL IN PRICING INFORMATION IN SECTION B) 2. A SIGNED COPY OF ANY AMENDMENTS ISSUED PRIOR TO THE OFFER DUE DATE. 3. 52.212-3, OFFEROR REPRESENTATIONS AND CERTIFICATIONS- COMMERCIAL ITEMS 4. FPI9999-999.9, BUSINESS MANAGEMENT QUESTIONNAIRE (COMPLETED FOR 3 REFERENCES) 5. ACH VENDOR/MISCELLANEOUS PAYMENT ENROLLMENT FORM 6. A LETTER ADDRESSING EACH ELEMENT OF EVALUATION FACTOR NUMBER TWO (TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES) (See M.2,52.212-2, Evaluation-Commercial Items) II. TRAINING OF OFFERORS Global eProcure will train designated employees for each offeror using real time mock auctioning to familiarize the offerors employees with the online auctioning system. Detailed bidding event guidelines and directions will be e-mailed to interested offerors prior to the practice and the live bidding event. The date and time of the practice reverse auction will be Monday January 30, 2006 at 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time. III. REVERSE AUCTION a. During the auction, Offerors may revise their initial pricing proposal through submission of electronic offers during the anonymous auction. This auction shall constitute discussions with the Offerors. The final such revision during the reverse auction will be considered the Offerors Final Proposal Revision (FPR). b. The Contracting Officer reserves the right to suspend or cancel the auction at any time. If the Contracting Officer cancels the auction, Final Proposal Revisions will be requested by an amendment to the solicitation. c. Notwithstanding FAR 52.215-5, Offerors will submit revised pricing only through the online mechanism supplied by Global eProcure. Offerors will not submit revised pricing via any other mechanism including but not limited to post, courier, fax, E-mail, or orally unless specifically requested by the Contracting Officer. d. The reverse auction bidding period shall be set by the Contracting Officer as indicated in Section IV, paragraph (a). Electronic offers shall be submitted by Offerors during the auction period. The reverse auction is designed to extend the closing time of a bidding lot if there are any offers placed in the final two (2) minutes of the bidding lot. If an offer is placed within the last two (2) minutes of the closing time, the time period shall be extended for two (2) additional minutes beyond the scheduled closing. e. ANY OFFEROR EXPERIENCING DIFFICULTIES DURING AN AUCTION MUST NOTIFY GLOBAL EPROCURE IMMEDIATELY. Difficulties include any event or problem, which interferes with the Offerors ability to participate in the auction and may include, but is not limited to: data entry errors, software problems, or hardware problems. Offerors will have five (5) minutes after a Lot goes into Verifying status to notify Global eProcure of any problems. If the Contracting Officer judges that any Offeror has been disadvantaged by a problem, they may direct Global eProcure to address the problem and return the Lot to Open status. f. Any and all Offeror contact with Global eProcure is for the sole purpose of facilitating the auction and shall not be considered discussions with the Offeror within the meaning of FAR Part 15. g. For purposes of FAR 52.203-2, and in accordance with subparagraph (c) thereof, submission of a proposal by the Offeror shall be considered certification by the Offeror that the only knowing disclosure by the Offeror of its prices to any other Offeror will be during the auction. The Offeror further certifies that disclosure by the Offeror of its prices during the reverse auction shall not be for the purposes of restricting competition. h. UNICOR reserves the right to reject any or all quotes received for any or all lots. IV. AUCTION RULES a. The date and time of the practice reverse auction will be Monday January 30, 2006 at 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time. The date and time of the Live Reverse Auction is Tuesday, January 31, 2006 at 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time. The reverse auction shall be designated as REVERSE AUCTION #CT1758-06. There will be 2 lots. The reverse auction shall commence at 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time and is scheduled to close at 11:20 AM Eastern Standard Time unless there is last minute bidding activity resulting in an extension of lot closing time. Prices submitted during the reverse auction must be aggregate extended prices for the lot in its entirety based on the estimated maximum quantities listed in this solicitation. Award will be on an All or None basis for Lot 1 and 2. The price breakdown worksheet is required via e-mail NLT 2:00 PM Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday, February 1, 2006 to the Global eProcure contact person. Prices submitted in the price breakdown worksheet must reflect the suppliers most competitive online offer.