SENIOR WRITER/RESEARCHER (HIGHLIGHTS)

Title: Senior Writer/Researcher (Highlights) (i) THIS IS A COMBINED SYNOPSIS/REQUEST FOR QUOTATION FOR A COMMERCIAL ITEM PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FORMAT IN SUBPART 12.6 AS SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION; ARE BEING REQUESTED AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE ISSUED. (ii) Solicitation No. BBG39-Q-15-PERSIAN-035 is issued as a Request For Quotation (RFQ). (iii) This solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect from the Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-076. (iv) This is 100% total small business set-aside. The North American Industry Classification Systems (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 711510 with a small business size standard of $7M. (v) The contractor shall provide a Firm Fixed Price Quotation for hourly rate based on a minimum of 8 hours and a maximum of 40 hours per month. The contractor shall provide a Firm Fixed Price quotation reflecting a hourly rate for a base period of six (6) months from April 22, 2015 through October 22, 2015 and, one (1) option periods of six (6) months from October 22, 2015 through April 21, 2015. Multiple Awards may be considered for this requirement at the discretion of the Government. (vi) The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), VOA Persian Division located in Washington, D.C. and anticipates establishing Non-Personal Services Purchase Orders with contractors for Television, Internet and Multimedia services for Senior Writer/Researcher (Highlights) as described in the attached Statement of Work (SOW) for VOA Persian Division (VOA/LNN) in Washington, DC. (vii) The period of performance is anticipated to start April 22, 2014 through October 22, 2014. The Contractor shall submit a monthly invoice for services delivered the preceding month per item (vi) above. (viii) The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provision quotation, FAR 52.212-1 Instruction to Offerors-Commercial Items, applies to this solicitation. FAR provisions and clauses may be obtained from the Internet Web address at: http://acquisition.gov/far/index.html. Interested contractors who are capable of providing these services should submit a proposal identifying capabilities as noted below. The contractor shall demonstrate the ability and experience in providing the required services. Offeror qualifications shall include but not be limited to: 1. Technical Proposal (Resume) that states the Offeror's resume/curriculum vitae and evidence of the Offeror's pertinent experience and education that can be easily and quickly validated by the COR. See sample attachment A (Technical Proposal). 2. Past Performance. See attachment B ( Past Performance Reference). 3. Contractors shall submit their quotation on an hourly basis. Work will be on an as-needed basis. All prices shall include overhead (e.g., benefits), General and Administrative cost (G&A) , and profit. See sample attachment C - Price Proposal. (ix) The Government will award a Commercial Items, Firm-Fixed-Price, Non-Personal services purchase order resulting from this RFQ to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the RFQ will be most advantageous to the Government, based on technical, past performance, and price in this quotation. When combined technical and past performance are more important than price. The following factors listed in order of importance shall be addressed in the technical proposals and shall be used to evaluate proposals: 1) Technical - Must be able to speak and write in Farsi and English. 2) Past Performance - The Offeror is required to provide no more than three (3) references from previous customers for same or similar services to the requirement. Offerors shall provide the three (3) references with the following information: (i) reference's name and address, email and telephone number of contact person; (ii) dollar amount of the contract or pay rate of employment; (iii) term of the contract or employment; and (iv) brief description of the work performed. Pursuant to FAR 15.305(a) (2) (iv), in the case of an offeror without a record of relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not available, the offeror may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance, and 3) A separate Price Proposal showing a breakdown of the price by hourly. (See Attachment C - Price Proposal). (x) Offerors shall include a completed copy of the provision FAR 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items which is completed by registering in the System for Award Management (SAM) Website at: https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/. Quotation must also include contractor's DUNS Number, prompt payment terms, and correct remittance address, if different from mailing address. OFFERORS MUST PROVIDE PROOF OF REGISTERTION WITH SAM PRIOR TO CONTRACT AWARD. (xi) The FAR clause 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition with addendum to the clause. The addendum is as follows: CONTRACTING OFFICER REPRESENTATIVE: The Contracting Officer will appoint by letter a Contracting Officer Representative (COR) who will have the responsibility of ensuring that the work conforms to the requirements of the contract and such other responsibilities and authorities as may be specified in the letter of authorization or this contract. It is understood and agreed, in particular, that the COR shall not have authority to make changes in the scope or terms and conditions of the contract unless and only to the extent that such authority is specified in the letter of authorization or the contract. (xii) FAR clause 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items, applies to this acquistion by reference and proposed subsequent contract as well as the following clauses contained within FAR clause 52.212-5: 52.204-10 Reporting Executive compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards; 52.219-6 Notice of Total Small Business Set (15 U.S.C. 644); 52.219-8 Utilization of Small Business Concerns; 52.219-28 Post Award Small Business Program Representation; 52.222-3 Convict Labor; 52.222-19 Child Labor-Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies; 52.222-21 Prohibition of Segregated Facilities; 52.222-26 Equal Opportunity (E.O. 11246); 52.222-35 Equal Opportunity for Veterans (38 U.S.C. 4212); 52.222-36 Affirmative Action for Workers with Disabilities (29 U.S.C. 793); 52.222-37 Employment Reports on Veterans (38 U.S.C. 4212); 52.222-40 Notification of Employee Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act; 52.222-50 Combating Trafficking in Persons; 52.223-18 Contractor Policy to Ban Text Messaging with Driving; 52.225-13 Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases and 52.232-33 Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer-Central Contractor Registration (31 U.S.C. 3332) (xiii) Additional FAR provisions and clauses incorporated by reference and applicable to this solicitation and the proposed subsequent contract are: 52.217-8 Option to Extend Services; 52.217-9 Option to Extend the Term of the Contract; 52.237-3 Continuity of Services; and, 52.242-17 Government Delay of Work. (xiv) A Defense Priorities and Allocations System (DPAS) assigned rating is not applicable to this acquisition. (xv) Questions must be submitted in writing and only via email to Cheryl Nixon at contact@example.gov. Written questions must be submitted before 12:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on April 7, 2015. Responses will be posted to FedbizOps by COB April 9, 2015. Full text of all FAR clauses and provisions are available electronically at the following Internet address: (http://www.arnet.gov/far). Quotations shall be in writing and must be signed by an official who is authorized to bind the organization. Oral proposals will not be accepted. TECHNICAL QUOTATION, PAST PERFORMANCE REFERENCES AND PRICE QUOTATION MUST BE SUBMITTED ELECTRONICALLY TO: contact@example.gov BEFORE THE CLOSING DEADLINE BELOW. Quotations are due to Cheryl Nixon, Contracting Officer, VOA Persian Division, Voice of America, Broadcasting Board of Governors, Room 1450, 330 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20237 before 11:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on April 17, 2015. (xvi) Contact: Cheryl Nixon, Contracting Officer, email: contact@example.gov. All responsible sources may submit an offer that will be considered by the Agency.