D--TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ON READY RESERVE FORCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

The purpose of this amendment is to extend the response due date to 12:00 Noon on 8 May 2008 and to include questions and answers. Q1. Can the response period be extended until 1630 on May 8, 2008? Q2. Reference is made to two documents: MARAD NS5 Shipboard Guidance and MARAD NS5 Equipment Hierarchy Guidance. I cannot locate those documents on the MARAD web site. Can you provide them? A1. The response date is extended until 12:00 Noon on 8 May 2008. A2. The Hierarchy Guidance Rev 0 and MARAD NSD Shipboard Guidance shall be emailed upon interested party's request and are provided solely for the purpose of responding to this solicitation. The copyright provisions noted in the manual prohibit any use other than by the Maritime Administration. This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13 with the format in Subpart 12.6, Streamlined Procedures for Evaluation and Solicitation for Commercial Items, of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION; QUOTES ARE BEING REQUESTED AND A SUBSEQUENT REQUEST FOR QUOTATION (RFQ) WILL NOT BE ISSUED. The RFQ Number is DTMA1Q08024. The Department of Transportation (DOT) Maritime Administration (MARAD) 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590 intends to procure services using Performance Based Service Acquisition (PBSA) procedures for technical assistance on man-day basis in support of Ready Reserve (RRF) Management Systems (RMS) process engineering using American Bureau of Shipping Nautical Systems 5 (NS5) software. The services shall be required in Washington, DC, Contractor's facilities, or at other on-site locations as directed by the COTR. The Performance Work Statement is as follows: A. The contractor shall provide technical assistance in the formation of a Preventative Maintenance Plan (PMP) within applicable MARAD PMP guidance for RRF ships as designated by the COTR. Task includes "coaching' ship managers in the methodology for development of a single plan for ROS and operations phases within NS5 and verification of the associated shipboard databases. Acceptable performance is a PMP that is approved by the applicable marine surveyor. If the PMP is unacceptable the marine surveyor shall provide reasons for the rejection. B. The contractor shall provide PMPs and standard jobs submitted by the ship managers, provide technical assistance in the quality assurance, formatting for import, and loading of this data into NS5. Acceptable performance is a successful data load in for each item in NS5. C. The contractor shall provide technical assistance to revise and maintain user documentation, including MARAD NS5 Shipboard Guidance and MARAD NS5 Equipment Hierarchy Guidance. Acceptable performance is delivery of electronic copy of documentation reflecting changes within the required delivery date set by the COTR. D. The contractor shall provide technical assistance to support RMS Operations and Policy Group research initiatives. NOTE: We request that offers be Firm Fixed Price and published labor rate sheets are included with offer. Period of performance will be from date of award through 30 September 2008." 50 man-days of direct support" 10 man-days in travel status" Air Fare, Per Diem and Travel (in accordance with Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) rates in effect at time of performance of services). Air Fare, Per Diem and Car Rental shall be invoiced at actual cost. All costs billed shall be substantiated with applicable receipts. E. Performance Assessment Plan: (1) Measurement/Metric - The contractor shall be measured on Task end results and timeliness. (2) Performance Standard - The contractor shall meet required submission dates. Provide deliverables as specified for each task.(3) Acceptable Quality Level (AQL) - 95%(4) Method of Surveillance - Contracting Office and Customer Feedback.(5) Incentives - Inspection/Acceptance: Favorable performance reviews. Negative: FAR 52.246-4 F. Offerors shall submit a Management Proposal (maximum two pages) providing the following information:(1) Recent (within last three years) corporate experience relative to the items in the Performance Work Statement (PWS), specifically addressing the application of the Maintenance and Purchasing Module within Nautical Systems 5 (NS5) software program.(2) Qualifications of person or persons who will staff the contract.(3) Two contract references for work similar to that in the SOW. Include contract number and point of contact with phone number and email address. Bidders will submit a Technical Proposal (max three pages) addressing their understanding of the requirement in each item in the SOW and stating how the work will be accomplished. Bidders will submit a separate cost proposal showing the daily rate for 50 days of labor and 10 days of travel. Travel will be reimbursed at cost, not to exceed Federal Travel Regulations. This requirement will be 100% Small Business Set Aside, and the NAICS code is: 541519 with a Small Business size standard of 150 employees. Vendors shall submit their quotes to Department of Transportation via email to alfredia.rich-murphy@dot.gov or fax to 202-366-3237. The Period of Performance (POP) shall be from date of award through 30 Sep 2008. This solicitation document and incorporated provisions/clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-24 and the latest Transportation Acquisition Circular (TAC) 06-01 issued 27 Dec 2005. The following FAR provisions and clauses apply to this solicitation and are incorporated by reference: 52.204-7 Central Contractor Registration (OCT 2003) and TAM 1204.1103 Procedures. Contracting officers are to ensure each contract document transmitted to the payment office includes the assigned DUNS number or, if applicable, the DUNS+4 number, within the award document in accordance with (FAR) 48 C.F.R. 52.204-7(b)(2); 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items (JAN 2005); 52.212-2 Evaluation of Commercial Items; 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items (JAN 2005) ALTERNATE I (APR 2002) (The offeror has completed the annual representations and certification electronically via the ORCA website at http://orca.bpn.gov. After reviewing the ORCA database information, the offeror verifies by submission of this offer that the representation and certifications currently posted electronically at FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and certifications Commercial Items, have been entered or updated in the last 12 months, are current, accurate, complete, and applicable to this solicitation (including the business size standard applicable to the NAICS code referenced for this solicitation), as of the date of this offer and are incorporated in this offer by reference); 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items (OCT 2003); Within 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required To Implement Statutes or Executive Orders (JAN 2005), the following clauses apply and are incorporated by reference: 52.219-6 Small Business Set-Aside, 52.219-28 Post Award Small Business Program Representation (June 2007), 52.222-3 Convict Labor (JUN 2003), 52.222-19 Child Labor - Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies (JUN 2004), 52.222-21 Prohibition of Segregated Facilities (FEB 1999), 52.222-26 Equal Opportunity (APR 2002), 52.225-13 Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases (DEC 2003), 52.232-33, Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer --Central Contractor Registration (OCT 2003), 52.225-13 (Feb 2006), Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases, and 52.232-33 Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer-Central Contractor Registration (Oct 2003). All offers shall be evaluated for fair and reasonable price, technical acceptability, satisfactory past performance, delivery schedule and adherence to the applicable clauses/provisions: (A) The Government reserves the right to award to the contractor whose offer represents the best overall purchase value to the Government. As such, the basis for contract award will include an evaluation of proposed contractor quality performance history. 52.212-2 Evaluation-Commercial Items. As prescribed in 12.301(c), the Contracting Officer may insert a provision substantially as follows: (a) The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate: (i) technical capability of the service offered to meet the Government requirement; (ii) past performance; (iii) price. All evaluation factors other than price, when combined, are significantly more important than price. At a minimum, parties responding to this solicitation may submit their quotation in accordance with their standard commercial practice (e.g. company letterhead, formal quote form etc.) but MUST include the following information: 1) Complete company name, mailing and remittance addresses, 2) Prompt payment terms, 3) Delivery schedule, 4) Taxpayer ID number, 5) Duns# and Cage Code, 6) ALL COMPLETED CERTIFICATIONS AS REQUIRED HEREIN - SPECIFICALLY THOSE FOUND IN 52.212-3. Responses to this Request for Quotation are due not later than 7 May 2008 by noon (12 pm). Reference: DTMA1Q08024 on your RFQ. Award will be fixed price. Award will be made to the lowest priced responsible quoter submitting a quote which conforms to this RFQ. Any inquires must be via e-mail-Include prompt payment terms, remittance address, Tax I.D. #, Duns #, and Cage Code. Number of labor hours for each labor category including regular and/or overtime hourly rates. Also, include any parts including quantity, part number, and price. If any travel and/or per diem are included, provide the charges for each item. Responses to this solicitation are due by 07 May 2008, 12:00 Noon. E.S.T. Offers can be emailed to Alfredia.rich-murphy@dot.gov. Reference the solicitation number on your quote.