**PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A PRESOLICIATION NOTICE. ALL INTERESTED OFFERORS MUST COMPLETE AND RETURN A RESTRICTED ACCESS REQUEST IN ORDER TO BE GRANTED ACCESS TO THIS REQUIREMENT. ALSO READ SITE VISIT INSTRUCTIONS. ** The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has a requirement for a qualified Contractor to provide Local Guard Services at the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The U.S. Embassy Kinshasa requires a secure environment to conduct their mission. The Contractor shall provide the organizational structure, management, and qualified staff at levels adequate to meet or exceed the requirement contained in the Performance Work Statement. The Contractor shall provide services in a manner that: 1) prevents loss or injury to U.S. personnel, dependents, and/or property; 2) prevents the destruction of assets; 3) prevents unauthorized access; and 4) deters potential terrorist attacks. Anticipated period of performance is one base year and four one-year options (to be exercised at the sole discretion of the Government). All contracted personnel, regardless of nationality, are required to pass a background investigation conducted by the Contractor and a separate background investigation conducted by the U.S. Government to certify their suitability for employment under this contract. The Government plans to post the solicitation on this site. The approximate acquisition schedule is as follows: The synopsis will be posted for approximately fifteen (15) days with restricted access requests due on September 30, 2015 at 1:00 pm ET. The Government plans to post the solicitation on this site on or about October 1, 2015 at 1:00 ET; or within one to two weeks after that date. Once the solicitation is posted on FedBizOpps, a proposal due date will be contained within. All dates are subject to change. All proposals from prospective offerors will be evaluated if received on time. All prospective offerors must be registered in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) in order to be eligible for award. In accordance with 22 U.S.C. - 4864, the Government will give preference to offerors qualifying as U.S. persons or U.S. Joint Venture Persons. The contract will be awarded to the offeror that submits a technically acceptable proposal with the lowest evaluated price. A site visit is tentatively scheduled for October 28, 2015, at the U.S. Embassy and their facilities in Kinshasa. A maximum of two individuals from each Offeror company may attend the site visit. Offerors are responsible for entry visa, all travel arrangements, local transportation, and accommodations for the site visit. Because of the potentially lengthy visa process, the site visit instruction information is listed below. Interested offerors should submit the requested visa information as soon as possible. ***SITE VISIT INSTRUCTIONS*** In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.237-1, Site Visit, the Government will host a site visit on October 28, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. local time, at the U.S. Embassy Kinshasa. This is not a preproposal conference. Any change to the date of the site visit will be published as an amendment on Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) (https://www.fbo.gov). All potential Offerors are encouraged to attend and become knowledgeable of the work sites. Information provided at the site visit may not be available in the same level of detail to those potential Offerors who do not attend the site visit. Due to security concerns, all Offerors must contact Contract Specialist Lindsay Kermisch at KermischL@state.gov and provide the name of the company and name(s) of individual(s), who will represent the company at the site visit, telephone numbers and email addresses. In order to obtain a host country visa for the visit, the Embassy of the United States of America in Kinshasa must issue an official invitation letter to be included with the host country visa application. Thus, all individuals planning to attend must provide their name (as it appears in their passport), birth date and place, passport number, date of passport issuance, date of passport expiration, purpose of visit, entry and departure dates, and the country from which the visa will be requested to the Contract Specialist. A scan of the copy of the passport personal information page is required. Without this information an invitation letter cannot be emitted. The invitation letter must be notarized in the DRC at the Notary Office (fees:4,000 Congolese Francs) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (fees: 26,000 Congolese Francs) and the method of payment will be communicated to the vendors interested in attending. This information must be submitted for clearance no later than 1:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (local time) on September 30, 2015. Only two (2) representatives from each company will be allowed due to space limitations. On the date of the site visit, company representatives must present matching photo identification, i.e., a passport, driver's license, photo identification in order to be allowed access to the site visit. Anyone attempting to attend the site visit without prior clearance will be denied entry.
