55 -- LUMBER

UNICOR intends to enter into a five (5) year firm fixed price requirements type contract for pallet and production lumber for FCC Allenwood PA, FCI Ashland KY, FCI Forrest City AR, USP Florence CO. Solicitation number is FN1253-06 and this solicitation is issued as a Request For Proposal. Requirements for this solicitation will be issued in two (2) lots. Lot one (1)- PALLET LUMBER- WILL BE DELIVERED TO FCC ALLENWOOD, FCI ASHLAND KY, FCI FORREST CITY AR, AND USP FLORENCE CO. AWARD ON LOT ONE (1) ITEMS WILL BE MADE USING THE REVERSE AUCTION. PROCEDURES FOR THE REVERSE AUCTION ARE DETAILED BELOW. LOT TWO (2)- PRODUCTION LUMBER-VARIOUS SIZES AND SPECIES OF LUMBER DELIVERED TO FCC ALLENWOOD PA AND USP FLORENCE CO ONLY. AWARD ON LOT TWO (2) ITEMS WILL NOT BE MADE USING THE REVERSE AUCTION. Offerors for Lot two are required to submit pricing with offer before closing date and time. All items should be priced NET TALLY. The minimum delivery order quantity is 1,000 BF, 100 EA OR 10,000 FT and the maximum delivery order quantity is 100,000 BF, 5000 EA OR 200,000 FT. Delivery date requested is 21 days for the initial delivery and 14 day for each subsequent delivery order. Variation in quantity is +/-10%. Offerors are advised that the Government intends to evaluate offers and award on an all or none basis for the pallet lumber and a multiple award for production lumber by species: Offerors shall submit signed and dated offers to UNICOR, Federal Correctional , Golf Course Road, Montgomery, PA 17752, Attn: Tiffani Balestrini, Contract Specialist, if sending UPS or Fedex. If sending offers via United States Postal Service please send to UNICOR Federal Prison Industies, PO Box 1500, White Deer, PA 17887 Attn. Tiffani Balestrini, Contract Specialist. This information shall be displayed on the outside of the envelope with the solicitation number and offer closing date. All bidders must complete the Business Management questionnaire in Section L of solicitation document with three references. References must be for same or similar items. All Bidders must complete the ACH form and the CCR Registration, which can be found on UNICOR's webpage at www.unicor.gov. For the ACH form click on business commercial opportunities, navigate to, procurement forms and click on ACH form and print. For CCR Registration scroll down the page to Central Contractor Registration and complete internet based form. Fax proposals are accepted at570-547-0371, Attn: Contract Specialist, the fax cover sheet shall reference the solicitation number and offer closing date and time. All bidders must acknowledgment all amendments if any. Offers received after the exact time and date specified will not be considered. The Government intends to award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer represents the best value to the government. The following factors shall be used to evaluate proposals: Past Performance, Adherence to specification, and price. UNICOR intends to use a Reverse Auction with this requirement. REVERSE AUCTION PROCEDURES 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 re vised 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, +1 (555) 000-0000 x 1017 or Fax: +1 (555) 000-0000, E-MAIL: contact@example.gov. Offerors are to contact Global eProcure for questions regarding the procedures of the Reverse Auction only!!! OFFERORS ARE NOT TO SUBMIT PRICING WITH THEIR INITIAL PROPOSALS FOR LOT ONE(1) PALLET LUMBER ONLY. PRICING MUST BE PROVIDED WITH INTITAL PROPOSAL FOR PRODUCTION LUMBER TO BE CONSISDERED FOR AWARD. Offerors should submit all the required information stated below, except for pricing, by the deadline for submissions on June 16, 2006 at 2:00 PM EST. Pricing will only be accepted through the reverse auction FOR PALLET LUMBER ONLY. 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 auction will be stated in the solicitation. REVERSE AUCTION: THE AUCTION a. During the reverse auction, offerors may revise their initial pricing proposal through submission of electronic offers during the anonymous reverse auction. This reverse auction shall constitute discussions with the offerors. The final such revision during the reverse auction will be considered the offerors Final Revised Proposal. b. The Contracting Officer reserves the right to suspend or cancel the reverse auction at any time. If the Contracting Officer cancels the reverse auction, Final Revised Proposals 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 reverse auction period. The reverse auction is designed to extend the closing time of a bidding lot if there are any bids placed in the final 2 minutes of the bidding lot. If a bid is placed within the last 2 minutes of the closing time, the time period shall be extended for two additional minutes beyond the scheduled closing. e. Any offeror experiencing difficulties during a reverse auction must notify Global eProcure immediately. Difficulties. include any event or problem, which interferes with the offerors ability to participate in the reverse auction and may include, but is not limited to: data entry errors, software problems, or hardware problems. Offerors will have five 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 reverse 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 reverse 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/offers received for any or all lots. AUCTION RULES a. The date and time of the practice and reverse auctions will be stated in the solicitation. b. Only qualified Offerors will be permitted to submit electronic quotes through the reverse auction. Quotes that Offerors submit through the reverse auction are legally binding quotations without qualification. Quotes may not be cancelled or withdrawn except for data entry errors. Contractors must submit their quotes through the online bidding mechanism supplied by Global eProcure and not through any other mechanism including but not limited to post, courier, fax, e-mail, or orally. Specification questions regarding this solicitation shall be referred to the Contracting Officer ONLY. Global E-procure is NOT responsible for providing a response to vendors on technical issues nor do they have technical expertise for this procurement. A written notice of award or acceptance of an offer will be 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. The solicitation will be available on Fedbizops at www.fbo.gov on or about JUNE 1, 2006. No copies of the solicitation will be mailed. All responsible offerors may submit a proposal which will be considered.