9/5/2023 - Amendment 2: Corrected typo on submission deadline 8/29/2023 - Amendment 1: Corrected typo on question deadline This notice is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items using Simplified Acquisition Procedures. This acquisition will be made in accordance with the format in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 12.6 “Streamlined Procedures for Evaluation and Solicitation for Commercial Items,” as applicable, and as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation (a written solicitation will not be issued) and quotes are being requested. The Solicitation number is RFQ-NIAID-23-2170668 and the solicitation is issued as a Request for Quotation (RFQ). This acquisition will be processed under FAR Part 13 Simplified Acquisition Procedures (Subpart 13.5 Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items). The solicitation documents and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular FAC 2023-04 Effective June 2, 2023. The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 334517 - Irradiation Apparatus Manufacturing with a small business size standard of 1,000 employees. The Product or Service Code (PSC) is 6640 – Laboratory Equipment and Supplies. This is a 100% Small Business Set-Aside and an SBA Non-Manufacturer Rule Class Waiver for Irradiation Apparatus Manufacturing applies. The government intends to award a single award, firm fixed price purchase order to the responsible offeror as a result of this RFQ that will include the terms and conditions set forth herein. By submitting a quote, the offeror is accepting that all government terms and conditions shall prevail over the award. By submission of a quote, the Offeror acknowledges the requirement that a prospective awardee shall be registered and viewable in the System for Award Management (SAM) database prior to award, during performance, and through final payment resulting from this solicitation (www.sam.gov). STATEMENT OF NEED The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Division of Intramural Research (DIR), Office of the Director (OD) is responsible for coordinating the maintenance and operations of NIAID’s scientific infrastructure. This acquisition is necessary for NIAID’s ability to effectively perform and maintain control of its mission and operations. Irradiator source reload is critical to maintain efficient operation of the irradiators at NIAID facilities that are utilized for inactivation of the various pathogens investigated at these locations. Inactivation is necessary to allow downstream studies to be conducted in less restrictive environments without concerns for contamination. The irradiators must be maintained to deliver the required doses efficiently to ensure experimental timelines are met. NIAID has a requirement to contract the services of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) designated manufacturing and distribution (M&D) licensee to perform source exchange on two J.L. Shepherd & Associates (JLS) irradiators located at its Rocky Mountain Laboratories facility in Hamilton, Montana, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) main campus in Bethesda, Maryland. The selected vendor will provide all labor, equipment, rigging, and material to install new source capsules as well as take possession and remove, decommission, transport, and recycle the source capsules being replaced. This effort includes all services and supplies necessary for a complete turn-key source reload operation for two Model 484-C irradiators, as well as a 1-year warranty from date of installation. The work and services to be performed shall be subject to the requirements and standards contained in the attached Statement of Work (SOW). PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE The total period of performance for this requirement is one year from date of award. The estimated period of performance is September 15, 2023 – September 14, 2024. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE This requirement will be performed at the following locations: 1) NIH Main Campus – C.W. Bill Young Center 33 North Drive Bethesda, MD 20892 2) Rocky Mountain Laboratories 903 South 4th Street Hamilton, MT 59840 INSTRUCTIONS All interested vendors shall provide a quote for the requirement as outlined in the SOW. The Government may evaluate only those quotes that fully meet the requirements as outlined in the SOW and respond to the instructions and requirements below. Failure to furnish a full and complete quote as instructed may result in the Offeror’s response being considered non-responsive and will therefore be eliminated from further consideration and award. Offerors proposing subcontracts to perform portions of the SOW should clearly identify the specific tasks for which they plan to utilize subcontractors, as well as the method and level of integration/coordination between the prime Contractor and all proposed subcontractors, and the expected advantages of such an approach. Offerors shall describe three awards of a nature and complexity similar to the proposed services required in which the Offeror is presently performing or has performed within the last three years. The Government reserves the right to contact references and/or project owners to obtain additional clarifying information regarding project relevance. Please include the following information for each referenced contract: Project title Description of the project Contract number or if applicable, delivery/task order number Contract amount and type of contract Government Agency/Organization Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) name, address, and phone number Contracting Officer’s name, address, and phone number Current status, e.g., completed and/or if in progress, start and estimated completion dates Name or company being referenced A brief narrative of why you deem the reference to be relevant to this effort Problems encountered during contract performance, corrective actions taken and solutions to stated problems Quote must be submitted via email to the Contract Specialist, Seth Schaffer, at
[email protected] on or before Wednesday, September 6, 2023, 4:00 PM ET. Late quotes will not be considered. Any questions or concerns regarding this RFQ should be emailed by Friday, September 1, 2023 at 4:00 PM EST to
[email protected]. All or part of the successful offeror’s quote may be incorporated in any contract resulting from this solicitation. The successful offeror’s quote may be incorporated by reference. SAFETY RECORD AND ELIGIBILITY Any company who has had history of injury, overexposures, NRC violations, etc. that occurred while performing this type of work may render the Offeror’s quote ineligible. EVALUATION NIAID will evaluate quotes to determine the best value to the government. NIAID will make that determination based on technical acceptability, past performance, and price. The Government’s objective is to obtain the highest technical quality necessary to achieve the project objectives at a reasonable price. In the event quotes are evaluated as technically equal with equal past performance, price will become a major consideration in selecting the successful Offeror. For non-price evaluation, the factors described below shall be used by the Government to evaluate quotes. For Technical Acceptability, quotes will be evaluated based on the following criteria: a) Contractor must provide documentation demonstrating the authority to perform the source reload task. According to the Sealed Source and Device Registry (SSDR) Certificate No: CA598D113S, the JLS Model 484-C irradiator is a Category I self-contained dry storage irradiator. Therefore, the Contractor providing the service shall be authorized by NRC or an Agreement State (Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended) in their license to provide service (source exchange) to Category I self-contained dry storage irradiators at the customer’s job site. b) Contractor shall provide specifications and registrations demonstrating the proposed sealed sources are suitable and appropriately authorized by the NRC for installation in a JLS Model 484-C irradiator. c) Contractor must provide proof of Trustworthy and Reliability determination for all workers who will be performing the source reload task and for any employees who will be receiving NIAID’s sensitive information as required under 10 CFR Part 37, “Physical Protection of Category 1 and Category 2 Quantities of Radioactive Material”. d) Contractor shall provide education and experience histories for all workers who will be on-site during the source reload. NIAID reserves the right to deny access to any individual(s) deemed unsuitable upon review of credentials and past performance. e) The Contractor must possess a satisfactory record of past performance in terms of safety and regulatory compliance to be considered for selection. Any history of injury, overexposures, NRC violations, etc. that occurred while performing this type of work may render the Contractor’s offer ineligible. f) The Contractor must provide a written schedule of work to be completed. If any factors exist that will potentially impact the project schedule or delivery schedule, they should be identified, and mitigations factors should be presented. g) The Contractor must demonstrate the capability to provide ongoing service and repair, including access to replacement parts, for NIAID’s JLS Model 484-C irradiator. The Past Performance evaluation will assess probability of meeting the SOW requirements based on an Offeror’s demonstrated record of recent and relevant quality and safety performance in meeting contract requirements. The Government may consider past performance information from individual references, or in the aggregate. Offeror’s past performance information will be evaluated subsequent to the technical evaluation. However, this evaluation will not be conducted on any offeror whose quote is determined to be technically unacceptable. In the case of an Offeror without a record of relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not available, the Offeror may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on Past Performance. ELECTRONIC INVOICING The successful offeror may submit an invoice once reload is complete. . NIAID will only accept invoices for services that have been provided to NIAID. NIH is using a phased transition approach from the NIH Office of Financial Management (OFM) Electronic Invoice Submission instructions to the Department of Treasury’s Invoice Processing Platform (IPP). For contractors that have transitioned to IPP, the Contractor must submit invoices to the Department of Treasury's Invoice Processing Platform (IPP) at https://www.ipp.gov. For contractors that have not transitioned to IPP, the Contractor shall submit invoices to the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/Office of Financial Management (OFM) via email at
[email protected] with a copy to the approving official until the Contractor has been notified of its transition to IPP. PROVISIONS AND CLAUSES The following Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provisions and clauses are incorporated by reference to this acquisition. The full text provisions and clauses may be accessed electronically at this address: https://www.acquistion.gov/. FAR 52.203-18 – Prohibition on Contracting with Entities that Require Certain Internal Confidentiality Agreements or Statements – Representations (Jan 2017) FAR 52.204-7 – System for Award Management (Oct 2018) FAR 52.204-13 – System for Award Management Maintenance (Oct 2018) FAR 52.204-16 – Commercial for Government Entity Code Reporting (Aug 2020) FAR 52.204-18 – Commercial and Government Entity Code Maintenance (Aug 2020) FAR 52.204-24 – Representation Regarding Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment (Nov 2021) FAR 52.204-26 – Covered Telecommunications Equipment or Services-Representation (Oct 2020) FAR 52.209-7 – Information Regarding Responsibility Matters (Oct 2018) FAR 52.212-1 – Instructions to Offerors – Commercial Products and Commercial Services (Mar 2023) FAR 52.212-3 – Offeror Representations and Certifications – Commercial Products and Commercial Services (Dec 2022) FAR 52.212-4 – Contract Terms and Conditions – Commercial Products and Commercial Services (Dec 2022) FAR 52.232-25 – Prompt Payment (Jan 2017) FAR 52.232-40 – Providing Accelerated Payments to Small Business Subcontractors (Nov 2021) FAR 52.237-2 Protection of Government Buildings, Equipment, and Vegetation (Apr 1984) FAR 52.252-2 – Clauses Incorporated by Reference (Feb 1998) The following additional clauses are applicable to this requirement and provided in full text as Attachments: FAR 52.212-5 - Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Status or Executive Orders – Commercial Products and Commercial Services (June 2023) The following Department of Health and Human Services Acquisition Regulation (HHSAR) provisions and clauses are incorporated to this acquisition by reference: HHSAR 352.203-70 – Anti-lobbying (Dec 2015) HHSAR 352.208-70 – Printing and Duplication (Dec 2015) HHSAR 352.222-70 – Contractor Cooperation in Equal Employment Opportunity Investigations (Dec 2015) HHSAR 352.223-70 – Safety and Health (Dec 2015) HHSAR 352.224-71 – Confidential Information (Dec 2015) HHSAR 352.239-73 – Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Notice (Dec 2015) HHSAR 352.239-74 – Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility (Dec 2015) The following Department of Health and Human Services Acquisition Regulation (HHSAR) provisions and clauses are incorporated to this acquisition by full text: HHSAR 352.232-71 – Electronic Submission of Payment Requests (February 2, 2022) (a) Definitions. As used in this clause— Payment request means a bill, voucher, invoice, or request for contract financing payment with associated supporting documentation. The payment request must comply with the requirements identified in FAR 32.905(b), ‘‘Content of Invoices’’ and the applicable Payment clause included in this contract. (b) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this clause, the Contractor shall submit payment requests electronically using the Department of Treasury Invoice Processing Platform (IPP) or successor system. Information regarding IPP, including IPP Customer Support contact information, is available at www.ipp.gov or any successor site. (c) The Contractor may submit payment requests using other than IPP only when the Contracting Officer authorizes alternate procedures in writing in accordance with HHS procedures. (d) If alternate payment procedures are authorized, the Contractor shall include a copy of the Contracting Officer’s written authorization with each payment request. (End of Clause) LIST OF ATTACHMENTS Attachment 1 – Statement of Work Attachment 2 – Full Text Clauses