66 -- General Purpose Laboratory Equipment and Services

CBD NOTICE 66-II-C This announcement is notification of the refreshing standing Solicitation Number FCGS-W3-98-0316-N covering Federal Supply Schedule 66, Part II, Section C ?General Purpose Laboratory Equipment. The following categories are solicited: Class 3770 ? Animal Caging Equipment and Accessories, Class 4110 ? Refrigeration Equipment and Accessories, Class 6630 ? Chemical Analysis Instruments and Accessories, Class 6636 ? Environmental Chambers and Accessories, Class 6640 ? Laboratory Equipment and Supplies/Laboratory Furniture, Class 6650 ? Optical Instruments and Accessories, Class 6670 ? Scales, Balances and Accessories, and Class 6685 ? Temperature Measuring Devices. This standing solicitation allows vendors to submit offers at anytime. There shall be no closing date for receipt of offers under this solicitation. This Solicitation is being refreshed to include new and updated clauses pertaining to the Multiple Schedule Program. The Solicitation can be downloaded from the Internet at http://www.eps.gov. The new term ?Evergreen Contracting? option periods has been added to this Solicitation. Evergreen contracts provides new policies and procedures to expand the multiyear contracts for all Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) Federal Supply Schedules to one 5 year basic contract period and three separate 5 year option periods. The Contracting Officer may exercise the option to extend the contract for an additional three five (5) years, by providing a written notice to the contractor at least 150 days in advance prior to the expiration of the contract period. When the Government exercises its option to extend the term of this contract, option prices must be determined fair and reasonable at the time the option is exercised. The Contracting Officer will obtain a contractor statement that the basis of award customer/Most Favored Customer (MFC) has remained the same and that pricing information provided to negotiate the contract, as updated through any modifications, has not changed unless an adjustment is made in accordance with another contract clause (e.g., Economic Price Adjustment Clause or Price Reduction Clause). Current contractors are not required to submit an offer under this solicitation issuance. Contracts awarded under this solicitation will have a contract period beginning on the date of award and will last for a five (5) year period, unless extended under the Evergreen option period, canceled or terminated. All vendors and/current contractors should be aware that the Evergreen Contracting option period can not be exercised if your items offered are not on the GSA Advantage Electronic Pricelist. This solicitation has been prepared in accordance with FAR Part 12, Acquisition of Commercial Items, which implement Title VIII of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act (FASA) of 1994 (Public Law 103-355), the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-106), and the final rule, published as General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation (GSAR) Change 76, regarding commercial item acquisitions under the Multiple Award Schedule Program. The contract format and data requirements in this solicitation differ from previous solicitations. Offerors are strongly encouraged to carefully review the entire solicitation package before submission to ensure compliance with commercial item provisions. Contractors are now required to accept the Government purchase card for payments equal to or less than the micro-purchase threshold for oral and written delivery orders. Contractors are encouraged to accept the Government purchase card for payment for orders above the micro-purchase threshold. See GSAR Clause 552.232.77, entitled ?Purchase by Credit Card?. This solicitation contains the new clause ?Contractor?s Report of Sales? (552.238-74), which requires the submission of sales on electronic GSA Form 72A via the Internet and ?IndustrialFunding Fee? (IFF) (552.238-76) which requires a 1% payment due on a calendar quarter schedule. Offerors must include the IFF in their prices. The fee is included in the award price(s) and reflected in the total amount charged to ordering activities. GSA has established a contract sales criterion for all Multiple Award Schedules. Clause I-FSS-639, entitled ?Contract Sales Criteria?, states that a contract will not be awarded if the anticipated sales are not expected to exceed $25,000. Contracts will also be canceled unless reported sales for each 12-month period from date of award are $25,000 or above. This Federal Supply Schedule will no longer have a prescribed beginning and ending date. The schedule period will be continuous, and will contain contracts with contract periods that commence on the date of award (DOA) and expire five years (exclusion of any options) from the DOA. Unless otherwise noted in the solicitation, new offers may be forwarded at any time. All requests for a diskette or hard copy of the solicitation should be faxed to (703) 305-5537, attention: Gwendolyn Dixon or Melisza Coates.