Banknote Design Sources Sought

This is a Full and Open Sources Sought notice (hereinafter Notice). This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, request for bids or quotations, nor, a promise to issue a solicitation in the future. The purpose of this Notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of all qualified sources to perform a potential service requirement. Responses to this Notice will assist the Government in determining interest and capability of potential vendors for this type of requirement. Treasury has announced its intent to develop the next family of US Banknotes. BEP's challenge is to develop a highly manufacturable and highly secure family of notes which performs flawlessly in commerce. A key component of this challenge is the underlying design of the banknote family. BEP's Banknote Design team is comprised of world-class artists with a diverse background in the arts. Each designer has served a 7-year banknote design apprenticeship and is a full-fledged journeymen banknote designer. The BEP is interested in respondents capable of providing a neutral, independent and objective advisory and assistance service, to develop a plan to enhance and optimize the banknote design capability of BEP staff through the development of individualized continuing education plans. Additionally, these potential future requirements would include onsite subject matter expert critique of emerging concepts and designs as BEP moves through the development processes. BEP anticipates the most effective critique team to consist of at least 3 SMEs in the Banknote industry and related processes (i.e., Banknote Engraving, Banknote Manufacturing, Banknote Design, etc.), however, will consider industry input demonstrating capabilities to reach the potential desired result outlined in this document. Advisory and Assistance services can be broken into two parts. 1) An individualized continuing education program tailored for each banknote designer and developed in coordination with the individual designer and design manager. This includes peer-to-peer advisory services for each individual designer; and 2) critique services of banknote design as it evolves through the design process. Critique supports the entire design team. This is a request for information only. Do not submit a proposal or quote. The answers to the questions below should total no more than 5 pages maximum, single spaced (Microsoft Word or .pdf attachments are preferred), (8"x11" pages, 1" margins, 12 pt font, including any tables, diagrams, etc.) including the following: Name of Company: CAGE Code: Address: Point of Contact: Phone Number: Fax Number: Email Address: In the response, the Contractor must respond to and provide detailed answers to all of the following questions: 1. What is your organizations experience with Banknote Design, Engraving and Manufacturing? 2. Can your organization directly provide subject matter experts in Banknote Design, Engraving and Manufacturing who are capable of providing independent and agnostic advisory and assistance services? 3. If your organization can not directly provide subject matter experts, can your organization identify subcontractor(s) to fill the subject matter expert role? 4. What is your organization's experience specific to the Treasury and/or BEP contracts and how would your organization's services and technical expertise produce and deliver such capabilities as described in the above background? The Respondents should demonstrate in their capability statement any comprehensive understanding of design principles and practices specific to the Banknote Industry. Respondents must demonstrate an understanding of (1) the unique characteristics of Banknote Manufacturing (i.e., intaglio, features, stack tolerance, security) and how they integrate to form sound Banknote design and (2) of the continuing education needs and opportunities of the Banknote design community. These advisory and assistance support services must deliver an agreed upon plan for each Banknote designer. Additionally, the critiques should be meaningful, informative and promote BEP's goal of aiding in the development of a high quality, highly manufacturable family of notes which meet stakeholder requirements. The point of contact for this Notice is: Michael Palmer, 14th & C Streets, S.W., Washington, DC 20228, 202-847-1047, michael.palmer@bep.gov. Email responses to this Notice shall be sent to the attention of individual listed above. Due date for responses are no later than 24 August, 2016, at 12:00 p.m. EST. This Notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. All costs associated with responding to this Notice are solely at the responding party's expense. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Further, the Government may contact the vendor for additional information regarding the information submitted as part of this market research effort. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract or agreement. The BEP will not be obligated to pursue any particular acquisition alternative as a result of this notice. Responses to the notice will not be returned. Not responding to this notice does not preclude participation in any future solicitation, if one is issued. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s). If so, respondents are solely responsible for properly marking and identifying such information within their response.