Peace Corps Personnel Background Investigation Services BPA

Solicitation #PC-13-Q-003 / Amendment #0001 Peace Corps Personnel Background Investigation Services BPA The purpose of this amendment is to: (1) Post the Q&A document; (2) Amend the first paragraph under Solicitation Instructions to clarify that in accordance with the requirements of the Office of Safety and Security, the Peace Corps is not looking for firms/companies to fulfill this need. (3) Extend the Quote submission deadline to Friday, JANUARY 11th, 2013 @ 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. SOLICITATION INSTRUCTIONS This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6 and 13, as applicable, and as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation numbered PC-13-Q-003 and is issued as a Request for Quotation (RFQ). NAICS Code 561611 Investigation Services applies to this RFQ. This is a total small business set-aside per FAR 19.502-2. To clarify, in accordance with the Office of Safety and Security requirements, the Peace Corps does not intend to contract with firms/companies for the subject services. Due to the sensitive nature of background investigations, the Peace Corps needs to maintain strict control regarding who conducts the investigations and is therefore only interested in hiring individuals. Any interested investigator must represent herself/himself as the Offeror and sole individual with whom the Office of Safety and Security will directly engage for these services. Resultant BPAs will be awarded to individual agents and not to firms or companies. Any future solicitations will also clearly reflect this policy. All Quotes must be submitted to Mr. Jeffrey Huang, Office of Acquisitions and Contract Management, CC: Ms. Fabiola A. Bellevue, via e-mail to(jhuang@peacecorps.gov) and (fbellevue@peacecorps.gov) or fax: (202) 692-1590, ATTN: Jeffrey Huang and Fabiola Bellevue, and are DUE NO LATER THAN on Friday, JANUARY 11th, 2013 @ 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. No late quotes will be accepted. Please direct any questions VIA EMAIL to jhuang@peacecorps.gov. Any amendments to this solicitation and any questions and answers will be posted to the Federal Business Opportunities website at www.fbo.gov. Interested parties are responsible for checking for any amendments or questions and answers. Each Contractor shall submit one Quote. The Quote must clearly document the following items: (1) The solicitation number PC-13-Q-003. (2) Contractor's full name, address, telephone number, DUNS number (must have valid CCR registration), and Tax ID number (TIN). (3) Contractor shall submit an hourly rate quotation not-to-exceed $48.00/hr, that will apply for the base year and four option years, at which the Contractor shall perform services in accordance with the Statement of Work (SOW). (4) Contractor must document how they meet mandatory qualification criteria described below. These comprise the technical evaluation criteria. The applicant MUST meet all mandatory qualification criteria (4a) through (4g) listed below in order to be eligible for consideration. Failure to do so will result in an automatic disqualification from the contractor pool here at Peace Corps. (4a) Confirm and illustrate your ability to maintain a Top Secret security clearance. Provide any supporting documentation, as applicable. (4b) Describe how you meet 10+ years of experience conducting personnel security background investigations for the U. S. Government (as an employee or contractor). (4c) Must presently reside in ONE of the following states in order to satisfy Peace Corps' current regional demand for investigators: - Capital Region: District of Columbia, Maryland or Virginia; *Agent must be willing to conduct field work in the District of Columbia and travel throughout the entire Capital Region. - Northeast Region: Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, or Vermont; - Southeast Region: Southern Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, or Florida. (4d) Must be ready and willing to travel on an as-needed basis to locations within the United States to conduct investigations. (4e) Must have working knowledge of E.O. 10450, 12968, 12958, and the Privacy Act of 1974. (4f) Must be able to deal effectively with individuals at all levels of Federal, state and local government, and the private sector. (4g) Must have ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing. (5) Provide contract number(s) and type of contract for any work previously performed in the past three years. Reference items shall include: - Procuring Agency and name of reference point(s) of contact, email and telephone number(s) at the entity for which the contract was performed; - Total dollar value of the Contract(s); - Period of Performance; - Description of the item(s) supplied and/or services rendered; - The number, type, frequency, duration, and impact of any quality, delivery or cost problems in performing the contract, the corrective action taken, if any, and the effectiveness of the corrective action. The basis for award is on the favorable evaluation of technical and price criteria, as follows: (1) ability to meet or exceed the mandatory qualification factors stated in Section 4 above and (2) ability to satisfy a proposed hourly rate quote not-to-exceed $48.00/hr. By responding to this solicitation the Contractor agrees to be able to perform the required work within the specified timeframe. The Peace Corps reserves the right to limit the number of Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) awardees based upon its regional needs. In particular for purposes of PC-13-Q-003, only a finite number of Agents per region are currently sought through this solicitation, as follows: - 3 Awardees for the Capital Region (DC/MD/VA); - 1 Awardee for the Northeast Region (DE, PA, NJ, NY, CT, RI, MA, NH, ME, VT); - 1 Awardee for the Southeast Region (Southern VA, NC, SC, GA, FL). Electronic file submissions must be provided in formats that are unlocked / unprotected. Electronic file submissions that cannot be readily opened by the Peace Corps may be considered non-responsive. The preferred formats are Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Adobe Acrobat PDF. Description of Requirement The Peace Corps intends to award Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) to awardees for conducting personnel security investigations on applicants and employees of the Peace Corps in accordance with the attached Statement of Work (SOW) and the investigative control and call sheets issued by the Office of Safety and Security, Information and Personnel Safety/Security (OSS/IPS) for each case assigned. The Contractor shall obtain information about the subject's activities through personal and record sources. After gathering information on the subject's activities, the Contractor shall provide a preliminary verbal summary report to the Chief, Information and Personnel Safety/Security Division (SS/IPS) or designee. Subsequently, the Contractor shall then prepare and submit to IPS a typed investigative report of the results. The Contractor may be assigned other investigative, related duties such as a special investigations, security briefings, reviewing completed personnel security investigations, scheduling cases, conducting security inspections, work in special projects or studies, or liaison services with other federal, state, or local agencies. The Government will award a firm-fixed-price BPA resulting from this solicitation to the responsible Contractor(s) whose Quote conforming to the solicitation requirements will be most advantageous to the Government. ###