Design and Provide a Course on Plant Herbivore Interaction.

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotes are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. This solicitation incorporates provisions and clauses for commercial items in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular FAC 2005-25 dated April 22, 2008. The associated NAICS code is 611310. The Product Service Code is R419. This solicitation constitutes the only solicitation; quotations are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. Request for Quotation (RFQ) number AG-7482-S-08-0009 is issued using Commercial Acquisition Procedures under FAR Part 12. All proposals shall reference the RFQ number and shall be submitted not later than 2:00 pm local time on May 22, 2008. All quotes or questions may be emailed to contact@example.gov or sent to: USDA NRCS NCSU, Attn: J Weber, 501 W. Felix, Bldg 23, Ft Worth TX 76115. Telephone and fax inquiries will not be honored. This acquisition is reserved for a small business concern; however, the Government is accepting quotes from small business concerns and large businesses. In the event of insufficient small business concern participation, (minimum of two) award may be made to participating large business. Multiple awards will not be considered. Any contact resulting from this solicitation will be a requirements type contract. As such the following Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) clauses apply: FAR 52.216-18 - Ordering. (Oct 1995) (a) Any supplies and services to be furnished under this contract shall be ordered by issuance of delivery orders or task orders by the individuals or activities designated in the Schedule. Such orders may be issued from June 1, 2008 through May 31, 2011. (b) All delivery orders or task orders are subject to the terms and conditions of this contract. In the event of conflict between a delivery order or task order and this contract, the contract shall control. (c) If mailed, a delivery order or task order is considered - issued when the Government deposits the order in the mail. Orders may be issued orally, by facsimile, or by electronic commerce methods only if authorized in the Schedule. (End of Clause) FAR 52.216-19 -- Order Limitations (Oct 1995) (a) Minimum order. When the Government requires supplies or services covered by this contract in an amount of less than one course the Government is not obligated to purchase, nor is the Contractor obligated to furnish, those supplies or services under the contract. (b) Maximum order. The Contractor is not obligated to honor -- (1) Any order for a single item in excess of three courses. (2) Any order for a combination of items in excess of three courses; or (3) A series of orders from the same ordering office within thirty days that together call for quantities exceeding the limitation in subparagraph (b)(1) or (2) of this section. (c) If this is a requirements contract (i.e., includes the Requirements clause at subsection 52.216-21 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)), the Government is not required to order a part of any one requirement from the Contractor if that requirement exceeds the maximum-order limitations in paragraph (b) of this section. (d) Notwithstanding paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section, the Contractor shall honor any order exceeding the maximum order limitations in paragraph (b), unless that order (or orders) is returned to the ordering office within ten days after issuance, with written notice stating the Contractor's intent not to ship the item (or items) called for and the reasons. Upon receiving this notice, the Government may acquire the supplies or services from another source. (End of Clause) FAR 52.216-21 -- Requirements (Oct 1995) (a) This is a requirements contract for the supplies or services specified and effective for the period stated, in the Schedule. The quantities of supplies or services specified in the Schedule are estimates only and are not purchased by this contract. Except as this contract may otherwise provide, if the Government's requirements do not result in orders in the quantities described as - estimated or - maximum in the Schedule, that fact shall not constitute the basis for an equitable price adjustment. (b) Delivery or performance shall be made only as authorized by orders issued in accordance with the Ordering clause. Subject to any limitations in the Order Limitations clause or elsewhere in this contract, the Contractor shall furnish to the Government all supplies or services specified in the Schedule and called for by orders issued in accordance with the Ordering clause. The Government may issue orders requiring delivery to multiple destinations or performance at multiple locations. (c) Except as this contract otherwise provides, the Government shall order from the Contractor all the supplies or services specified in the Schedule that are required to be purchased by the Government activity or activities specified in the Schedule. (d) The Government is not required to purchase from the Contractor requirements in excess of any limit on total orders under this contract. (e) If the Government urgently requires delivery of any quantity of an item before the earliest date that delivery may be specified under this contract, and if the Contractor will not accept an order providing for the accelerated delivery, the Government may acquire the urgently required goods or services from another source. (f) Any order issued during the effective period of this contract and not completed within that period shall be completed by the Contractor within the time specified in the order. The contract shall govern the Contractor's and Government's rights and obligations with respect to that order to the same extent as if the order were completed during the contract's effective period; provided, that the Contractor shall not be required to make any deliveries under this contract after September 30, 2011. (End of Clause) The United Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), National Employee Development Center (NEDC) has a need for a Contractor to design and provide a course on plant herbivore interaction. The Contactor must demonstrate expert knowledge of the specific circumstances and unique design needs of NRCS personnel as they work with private land users in the management of grazing lands. The course as designed and presented, through lectures and dialog, must explore functional relationships among soils, plants, herbivores, and people as they pertain to managing landscapes. Discussions must involve the behavioral principles and processes, explore avenues for research, and talk about implications for agricultural production involving feedlots, pastures, and rangelands; enhancing and maintaining biodiversity through grazing; ecosystem restoration involving grazing, invasive species, and riparian areas; enhancing wildlife values by mitigating human-wildlife conflicts; and conservation biology including re-introducing endangered species. Emphasis must be on the principles of plant and animal behavior to ensure that attendees can, upon completion of the course, translate the behavioral principles into practices that will provide an array of solutions to challenges people face in managing to improve the integrity of the land and to make a living from the land. The course instructor shall present a pre and a post test to the attendees to measure the effectiveness of the course. The tests shall be given to the COR at the end of the course. Projected performance period for the initial course is June 17-26, 2008. It is estimated that the course will have approximately 25-30 attendees. Students will be primarily those specializing in Grazing Land Management. The Government reserves the right to cancel this course due to lack of enrollees. If the Government cancels this course and no further courses are ordered during the ordering period of June 1, 2008 through May 31, 2011, the Government will pay a one-time amount of not more than $2,500 to the Contractor for the preparation required to present the courses. The Contractor is responsible for the location of the training. The Contractor shall provide all equipment and supplies necessary for presenting the course. Proposals: Contractors are asked to include the following information with their proposals. 1) Summary of performance with federal agencies in the past 24 months, include contract number, purchase order number and agency phone number(s). If no past performance with federal agencies in past 24 months, include 3 professional business references. 2) Copy of proposed curriculum. 3) Detailed quote on a per student basis for services rendered. All quotes should be all inclusive and priced per attendee. The awardee will only be paid for actual attendees. (The Contactor shall figure the per head cost to include the cost of the training plus any overhead costs.) 4) Description of the location of training. The Instructor will be responsible for providing attendees with an electronic copy and a printed copy of English language course training materials. Course completion reports shall be provided to the NECD COR (to be named upon award) not later than seven (7) days after course completion. The Instructor shall be a professional, technically-qualified subject matter expert who possesses the necessary experience, knowledge and skills to perform the task outlined above. The Instructor shall: 1. Possess not less than ten years research and adult students teaching experience in the functional relationships among soils, plants, herbivores, and people as they pertain to managing of landscapes. 2. Demonstrate research and publication of scholarly articles in academic and professional journals including discussions on plant herbivore behavioral principles and processes and their implications for agricultural production involving feedlots, pastures, and rangelands; enhancing and maintaining biodiversity through grazing; ecosystem restoration involving grazing, invasive species, and riparian areas; enhancing wildlife values by mitigating human-wildlife conflicts; and conservation biology including re-introducing endangered species. 3. Presented information which demonstrates publication of not less than 12 scholarly papers and participation in academic conferences and professional organization meetings that emphasize principles of plant and animal behavior. 4. Demonstrate thorough understanding of Plant Herbivore Interaction principles and practices that focus attention on an array of solutions to challenges people face in managing, improving quality, integrity and living from the land. 5. Demonstrate understanding of environmental factors and the infrastructure of a ranch such as corrals, fences, and water development. 6. Demonstrate understanding of plant herbivore and interaction factors that scientists and managers often ignore the power of behavior to transform systems, despite compelling evidence. 7. Demonstrate knowledge of the genome-environment interactions that begin during development in utero and early in life and continue throughout life. 8. Demonstrate understanding of the interaction of environments with the genome to create behaviors. 9. Demonstrate understanding of how the power of behavior to transform systems ecologically, - technology packages transferring, economically, and socially, and fundamentally, change the way people understand and use animal behavior and plant interactions to manage ecosystems. 10. Demonstrate capacity to accomplish the requirements by providing evidential support for training a minimum of 25 adults and/or conducting Workshops in Plant Herbivore Interaction at not less then five locations within the United States and/or not less than five locations in Western developed democratic countries. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers: technical capability of the firm or individual to meet the Government requirement, present/past performance and price. Technical Capability of the firm or the individual combined with present/past performance is of a significant greater value than price. The evaluation of qualifying proposals will be carried out by the Contracting Officer and other personnel deemed necessary to complete the evaluation. Technical Evaluation: The evaluation of each proposal will assess and measure the ability and knowledge of the Offeror to provide the services described above. In the evaluation of Technical Capability, the evaluator will use the following adjectives and related definitions to define the Technical Capability the proposal poses. RATINGS EVALUATION CRITERIA Blue Proposal meets all solicitation requirements, demonstrates an excellent understanding of the requirements, and possesses skills that offer significant advantages to the Government. Excellent in all aspects. Advantages/strengths are not offset by disadvantages/weaknesses. Green Proposal meets solicitation requirements and demonstrates an adequate understanding of the requirements but does not offer significant advantages to the Government over basic requirements. Where there were areas of concern, clarifications given by the Offeror were acceptable. Disadvantages/weaknesses are not significant. Yellow Proposal meets some but not all of the solicitation requirements, but offers disadvantages (weaknesses) outweighing other advantages (strengths). Pink Proposal meets some but not all of the solicitation requirements. Proposal does not address all required criteria. Proposal contains errors, omissions or deficiencies that may be able to be corrected without major rewrite or revision of proposal. Red Proposal demonstrates little or no understanding of the solicitation requirements; or approach fails to meet acceptable re-configuration expectations. Proposal contains major errors, omissions or deficiencies and these conditions cannot be corrected without major rewrite or resubmission. There is an unacceptably high degree of risk in meeting the Government's requirements. An Offeror's Past/Present Performance will be evaluated at a factor level that most accurately defines the Offeror's performance considering all potential evaluation criteria identified in the following section. The evaluation will consider the Offeror's past/present performance relating to the following factors: (1) Customer Relationship (2) Prior Experience (3) Adherence to Delivery Schedule (4) Ability to Successfully Perform In conducting the performance assessment, the Government may use data provided by the Offeror, and/or data obtained from other sources. The Offeror should provide the Government with not more than 3 (three) of the most current past/present performance references. A reference name, contact number, phone number, and e-mail address should be submitted to allow the Government to obtain adequate past/present performance information. To arrive at a Best Value decision, the Contracting Officer will integrate the evaluation of Technical Capability and Past/Present Performance. Technical Capability will be rated slightly higher than Past/Present Performance. Together they will be rated significantly higher than price. Offerors should provide resumes for the individuals who will actually be performing the work. In addition, please submit the performance questionnaire to a minimum of three references with instructions to send it to this office upon completion. All deliverables are FOB Destination. Please note: All Contractors must register in the Central Contractor's Registration database at www.ccr.gov. The CCR Customer Assistance Center can be contacted toll free at: +1 (555) 000-0000. The first step to registering is to obtain a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number, which is a unique nine-character identification number provided by the commercial company Dun and Bradstreet (D&B). To request a DUNS number call D&B at the toll free number +1 (555) 000-0000 or register on-line at http://www.dnb.com/ccr/register.html. Obtaining a DUNS number through this process is free of charge. It behooves anyone who is submitting a quote to begin this process as soon as possible since it can takes several days to complete. Failure to register by close of business on the third day after notification of possible award by the Contracting Officer may cause rejection of your offer. Prospective contractors also must complete electronic annual representations and certifications at http://orca.bpn.gov in conjunction with required registration in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database. (See FAR 4.1102). Prospective contractors shall update the representations and certifications submitted to ORCA as necessary, but at least annually, to ensure they are kept current, accurate, and complete. Please include your TAX ID Number, CAGE Number (obtain at www.ccr.gov), and DUNS Number when submitting your quote. This solicitation incorporates one or more solicitation provisions by reference; with the same force and effect as if they were given if full text. Upon request, the CO will make their full text available. The provisions at FAR 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors - Commercial Items (Apr 2008) and FAR 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications - Commercial Items (Nov 2007) apply to this solicitation. Clauses FAR 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions - Commercial Items (Feb 2007) and FAR 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders - Commercial Items (Apr 2008) along with FAR 52.216-18, FAR 52.216-19 and FAR 52-216-21 will apply to any resulting contract.