OUTPUT PRICE INDEX FOR NEW SCHOOL BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for the commercial items listed below and prepared in accordance with the Simplified Acquisition Procures, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. This solicitation number, DOL082J10176 is issued as a Request for Quotation (RFQ) and incorporates provisions and clauses that are incorporated through Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-26. The North American Industry Classification Code (NAICS) is 541511.The Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index (PPI) is seeking a contractor to provide data and services to aid in constructing an output price index for new school building construction in the United States. The data will be used to determine high level specifications for four regional school models and as a frame source for survey respondents. Services will include the development of four detailed regional new school building models, a cost update methodology for the models, and assistance in understanding and making updates to the models if needed. The contract length will be two years. If your company is interested in this requirement, contact Joan Gantt for a Statement of Work at gantt.joan@bls.gov. Please submit a technical and cost proposal no later than September 03, 2008, at 3:00PM ET . Questions should be submitted to the same email address and must be received no later than August 20, 2008 at 6:00PM ET. The Technical Proposal should not exceed 40 pages, plus resumes and attachments. All responses will be evaluated in accordance with the stated evaluation criteria. The BLS will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsive/responsible offeror whose offer to this solicitation is the most advantageous to the Government. The anticipated award date is September 28, 2008. All responsible sources may submit a quotation, which will be evaluated by BLS. The Technical Proposals must provide itemized responses for the requested information below. The number for each itemized response must correspond to the number for the requested information. 1. Name of: (a) project leader (b) person(s) directly responsible for model development, (c) person(s) responsible for completing quarterly cost updates, and (d) person(s) directly responsible for answering questions about the models and the cost update process. 2. A description of the source data to be used to satisfy deliverable 1 as described in the Statement of Work. The description should include where and how the information is collected, the frequency of collection, and the scope of collection (for example, data are collected from all 37 of the 50 states on a monthly basis.) The description should also state how the data are verified. 3. The total number of individual new - school projects that the vendor expects to provided to BLS to satisfy the requirements of deliverable 1 listed in the statement of work. The number of projects to be supplied to BLS which include plans and specs for the building which can be accessed by the offeror. A numerical breakdown of the total number of new - school projects for the following categories: Public Schools Private Schools High school High school Middle schools Middle schools Elementary schools Elementary schools Pre-school Pre-school Others Others 4. A sample list of 20 project records in the vendor's database that would be included in the full list of projects to satisfy deliverable 1. This list of 20 records should be provided in a Microsoft Excel format with each row being a single project record. 5. A list of any additional fields not specifically requested by BLS for deliverable 1 but which the offeror believes might be important to include in each project record. 6. A description of how the offeror will select and/or develop the specific assemblies/components for the models such that the assemblies represent current - typical construction practices. 7. A description of how the offeror will verify that the assemblies in the model meet various building code requirements given the type, size, and intended use of the structure. 8. A description of the origin and scope of all primary and secondary source data that will be used to satisfy deliverable number 4 (cost updates) as stated in the Statement of Work. Primary data sources are those directly surveyed by the vendor. Secondary data sources are all others which are not primary sources. If no secondary sources of data are used please state that explicitly. The response to the request for this information must include: the total number of discrete materials and labor types for which costs are directly collected in the vendor's cost surveys, the number of survey respondents participating in the vendor's survey, the frequency of survey respondent contacts, and the average number of survey respondents per state. 9. An itemized list of all of the specific material, labor, equipment and any other cost factor for which price data will be gathered in order to update the model costs. 10. A description of how data in the offeror's cost surveys are gathered, verified, validated, and if applicable, modified after collection. 11. A description of the proposed methodology to update the model costs on a quarterly basis. The proposal should explain in detail how the update process would occur and describe the basis for updating the costs. If both primary and secondary source data are to be utilized explain any differences between how each is used. If there is no difference then state that explicitly. The description must explain how the costs will be regionalized. 12. A complete list of the specific types of costs that will be directly updated as part of the quarterly update process. Such costs may be material costs, labor costs, equipment costs, fuel costs, general conditions, etc. If any costs are updated less frequently than quarterly please identify those. 13. A statement describing in detail how changes in fuel costs will be reflected in the models and in the quarterly updates. Specifically state how fuel costs are measured, how fuel cost adjustments will be applied to the models, and the frequency (monthly, quarterly, annually, etc) that the updates will be applied. 14. A statement describing how labor productivity is measured and calculated and then reflected in the models and quarterly updates. Specifically describe how adjustments will be made due to changes in labor productivity and the frequency (monthly, quarterly, annually, etc) that the adjustments will be applied. 15. A statement identifying the time period that a quarterly update received in February 2009 would reflect. For example, the response might state, - A quarterly update delivered in February 2009 would represent price movement from October 2008 to December 2008. 16. Since the cost updates are intended to accurately reflect current market material, labor, and equipment price trends for the assemblies and the building as a whole, provide a summary narrative explaining why the proposed cost update methodology is the best method to capture this. 17. A statement of how the offeror intends to monitor the appropriateness of the model and assemblies over the period that BLS will use the model. Offeror's must provide two Past Performance references. Please include Contract Number, technical and contracting points-of-contact including phone numbers and email addresses. Past performance references should be for work of a similar in nature within the last five years. BLS will evaluate proposals based on the following criteria: BLS Evaluation Criteria: The scope and method of data collection for the initial list of projects. The sample list of project data for deliverable 1. The scope and method of data collection for the cost updates. The model development process. Past performance Cost of the proposal