This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items/services prepared in accordance with the format in Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 12, Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation. Quotations are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. The Contracting Officer is utilizing policies and procedures prescribed in Part 12, Acquisition of Commercial Items. Solicitation Number RFQ 0183-14 is issued as a Request for Quotation (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-76 effective on July 25, 2014. Interested parties that can satisfy the requirements listed below are encouraged to submit a quotation. This solicitation is considered an unrestricted procurement. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has a requirement for a contractor to provide on-line subscription legal research services to the Bureau of National Affairs, Inc (BNA) Labor & Employment Law Resource Center, and the Employment Discrimination Report. The government contemplates the award of a firm-fixed price (FFP) contract. The quotation package shall include the following line items in a written quotation: Base Year: Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) 0001, BNA Labor & Employment Law Resource Center, and the Employment Discrimination Report - Quantity 1 Lot (See Attachment A for Content Listing), Unit Price $____, Total for Base Period CLIN 0001 $____; Option Year 1: Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) 0002, BNA Labor & Employment Law Resource Center, and the Employment Discrimination Report - Quantity 1 Lot (See Attachment A for Content Listing), Unit Price $____, Total for Base Period CLIN 0002 $____; Option Year 2: Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) 0003, BNA Labor & Employment Law Resource Center, and the Employment Discrimination Report - Quantity 1 Lot (See Attachment A for Content Listing), Unit Price $____, Total for Base Period CLIN 0003 $____; Option Year 3: Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) 0004, BNA Labor & Employment Law Resource Center, and the Employment Discrimination Report - Quantity 1 Lot (See Attachment A for Content Listing), Unit Price $____, Total for Base Period CLIN 0004 $____; Combined Grand Total for CLINS 0001 through 0004: $____. A contract will be awarded to the responsible quoter whose quotation represents the best value to the Government. Interested parties must indicate in their quotation whether they accept payment via Government-wide commercial purchase card. The prospective contractor must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database prior to award of the resulting contract. Registration is free and can be completed on-line at http://www.sam.gov. Each quotation must clearly indicate the capability of the quoter to meet the requirements specified in this combined synopsis/solicitation. SUBMISSION OF QUOTATION: All interested parties shall submit with their quotation a written response/evidence to support that the quoter can meet or exceed the Go/No-Go evaluation factors for award requirements. Failure to do so will eliminate the quoter from consideration. Your quotation in response to RFQ0183-14 is due August 20, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. ET. Quotations will be accepted in hard copy by U.S. Mail and electronic copy via e-mail. If submitting the quotation by mail, send two (2) hard copies to the following mailing address: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Acquisition Services Division, 131 M Street, N.E., Room 4SW26G, Washington, D.C. 20507 Attn: Gregory Browne, Contracting Officer. One (1) electronic copy of the quotation may be submitted via e-mail, addressed to
[email protected]. QUESTIONS: Questions regarding this request for quotation should be submitted to Gregory Browne [Contracting Officer] via e-mail at
[email protected]. Telephone inquiries or responses are not acceptable. The deadline for submission of questions regarding RFQ0183-14 is August 18, 2014, 11:00 a.m. ET. Any questions received after the above mentioned date and time will not be considered. The Government will not reimburse interested parties for any cost associated with responding to this business opportunity. All responsible sources may submit a quotation which shall be considered by the agency. The anticipated contract award date is on or before September 1, 2014. BASIS FOR AWARD: The government intends to award a fixed-price contract to the responsible quoter whose quotation is responsive to the solicitation, meets or exceeds the Government's requirements, and is determined to be the best value to the Government, using the lowest price technically acceptable approach. EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD: The following factors shall be used to evaluate quotations. In order to be considered technically acceptable, quotations must meet the following Go/No-Go requirements: Factor 1. Functionality: The quoter must provide a service with the same functionality as provided by the web-based BNA Labor & Employment Law Resource Center and the Employment Discrimination Report. Specifically the ability to customize content on the individual products which make up the Resource Center plus the ability to search, download, bookmark, and print the individual resources. The ability to customize content relates to setting up preferences to view content by topic, court, agencies, etc. The ability to browse requires that treatises can be opened chapter by chapter, page by page, just as a book is naturally read. With respect to newsletter materials such as the Employment Discrimination Report, the capability to browse must also include the ability to browse by date of issue. The ability to browse case law must provide the feature of browsing cases by type of court (circuit, district, Federal Administrative entities such as the EEOC and states). The capability to search must allow for a search within one single resource, across all resources or by selected resources. In each case, the ability to use Boolean logic (AND, OR, NOT) as well as other sophisticated search techniques such as limiting to a phrase, limiting by date, truncation by single or multiple characters as well as proximity must be available. The capability to sign up for email delivery of news resource table of contents must also be present. Factor 2. Minimum Specifications: As defined in the Federal Acquisition Regulations Sub Part 11.1, paragraph 11.104, use of brand name or equal purchase descriptions, the quoter must provide BNA or equivalent service that meets the minimum specifications for Line Item Numbers 0001 and 0002 as follows: Line Item No. 0001: The web-based Employment Discrimination Report weekly newsletter provides comprehensive coverage of judicial, legislative, and regulatory developments in the area of equal employment opportunity. Email summaries with the highlights and table of contents for each report with links to full text articles and documents are available. Subject indexing is assigned every six months, cumulating annually to provide a topical avenue for accessing an archive of reports going to 1/03/1996. Current and archived reports can be searched and browsed as outlined in Factor 1 above. Line Item No. 0002: The web-based BNA Labor & Employment Law Resource Center is composed of the following collections: Employment Discrimination & Disabilities Law Treatises I which provides a treatise on individual issues in EEO law - Workplace Harassment Law, Age Discrimination in Employment Law, Disability Discrimination and the Workplace, EEOC Litigation and Charge Resolution, The Pregnancy Discrimination Act; Employment Law (case law and reference material such as policy/guidance documents issued by the EEOC on federal EEO law) - Fair Employment Practices case law and Manual, Individual Employment Rights, Americans with Disabilities Act Manual, Americans with Disabilities Act Cases, Wages & Hours Case & Manual, Affirmative Action Compliance Manual, Workplace Law Report, Workplace Immigration Law Report, Verdicts & Settlements Navigator (for searching for monetary awards by law, court, size of award, by verdict, by settlement, etc), Practice Tools; Employment Discrimination Law treatise by Lindemann & Grossman; and the EEO Compliance Manual with commentary and issuances by the EEOC. All of the individual resources noted above can be searched and browsed as outlined in Factor 1 above. All quoters shall provide their complete list of fields in the service for review when responding to the RFQ. Factor 3. Experience on Similar Contracts. The quoter must provide evidence that it has successfully performed a minimum of two (2) contracts for the same services within the past two (2) years to include (1) Agency's name and address; (2) contract number; (3) contract type; (4) place of performance; (5) date of contract and period of performance; (6) total contract value; (7) a brief description of the services performed; (8) Contracting Officer's name, telephone number, and e-mail address; (9) Program Manager's name, telephone number and e-mail address; (10) Administrative Contracting Officer's name, telephone number and e-mail address, if different from Contracting Officer. Once the quotes received have been determined to be "technically acceptable," an award will be based on lowest price. Evaluation of Options: Except when it is determined in accordance with FAR 17.206(b) not to be in the Government's best interests, the Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. Evaluation of options will not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s). Notice: The Government intends to evaluate quotations and make award without discussions (except clarifications as described in FAR 15.306(a)). Therefore, the quoter's initial quote should contain the vendor's best terms from a price and technical standpoint. The Government reserves the right to conduct discussions, if the Contracting Officer later determines them to be necessary. The Government also reserves the right to conduct a site visit prior to award. Applicable Provisions and Clauses: The provisions at 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors - Commercial Items applies to this acquisition. The vendor shall include a completed copy of the provisions at 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications - Commercial Items with your quote. The Clause 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items and Clause 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statues or Executive Order-Commercial Items are incorporated by reference. Clause 52.204-10 Reporting Executive Compensation and First -Tier Subcontract Awards, Clause 52.209-6, Protecting the Government's Interest When Subcontracting with Contractors Debarred, Suspended, or Proposed for Debarment, Clause 52.217-9 Option to Extend the term of the Contract, (a) The Government may extend the term of this contract by written notice to the Contractor within 30 days; provided that the Government gives the Contractor a preliminary written notice of its intent to extend at least 60 days before the contract expires. The preliminary notice does not commit the Government to an extension. (b) If the Government exercises this option, the extended contract shall be considered to include this option clause. (c) The total duration of this contract, including the exercise of any options under this clause, shall not exceed 48 months. (End of clause) Clause 52.222-3 Convict Labor, Clause 52.222-19 Child Labor - Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies, Clause 52.222-21, Prohibition of Segregated Facilities, Clause 52.222-26 Equal Opportunity, Clause 52.222-35 Equal Opportunity for Veterans, Clause 52.222-36 Affirmative Action for Workers with Disabilities, Clause 52.222-37 Employment Reports on Veterans, Clause 52.222-50 Combating Trafficking in Persons, Clause 52.223-18 Encouraging Contractor Policies to Ban Texting Messaging While Driving, Clause 52.225-13 Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases, Clause 52.232-33, Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer - System for Award Management are incorporated by reference, Clause 52.233-3 Protest after Award and Clause 52.233-4 Applicable Law for Breach of Contract Claim. To obtain the above provision/clauses in full text, please visit https://www.acquisition.gov/far. Method of payment: Electronic Funds Transfer.