T -- News Press Feed

Combined Synopsis/Solicitation HHM402-07-Q-0028 issued by the Virginia Contracting Activity (VaCA), on behalf of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), to award a firm fixed price contract for a base year plus four option years, to acquire News and Wire Services. This is a requirement for commercial services prepared in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 12.6 and supplemented by additional information included herein. This announcement is the only Request for Quotation (RFQ) to be issued; electronic quotations are required. Mandatory FAR clauses and provisions are: 52.203-6 Restrictions on Subcontractor Sales to the Government (Sept 2006) Alternate I (Oct 1995); 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items (Sept 2006); 52.212-2 Evaluation-Commercial Items (Jan 1999) (a) Evaluation factors, in decending order of importance are (i) technical compliance, (ii) past performance, and (iii) price. Technical and past performance, when combined, is 80%; 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items (Nov 2006) Alternate I (Apr 2002); 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items (Sept 2005); 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items (Nov 2006); 52.225-13 Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases (Feb 2006); 52.233-4 Applicable Law for Breach of Contract Claim (Oct 2004). Mandatory Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) clauses and provisions are: 252.212-7000 Offeror Representations and Certifications--Commercial Items (Jun 2005) NOTE: The certification in paragraph (b) of this provision at does not apply to this solicitation; 252.212-7001 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders Applicable to Defense Acquisitions of Commercial Items (Nov 2006); 252.209-7001 Disclosure of Ownership or Control by the Government of a Terrorist Country (Oct 2006); 252.232-7010 Levies on Contract Payments. (Dec 2006). The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and small business size standard is 519110 (News Syndicates). The News and Wire Services must be delivered electronically to the Defense Intelligence Agency via a service feed which shall conform to the American Newspaper Publishers Association (ANPA) 1312 wire service guidelines for asynchronous data transfers of ASCII characters; the minimum data rate of 1200 baud, but no faster than 19.2K baud can be supported; the protocol shall include 1 start bit, 7 data bits, 1 parity bit and 1 stop bit; the service provider shall provide RS-232 interface for DIA to receive the messages from; all service, circuit and any required termination interface equipment shall be provided b the service provider. Service must begin on 01 January 2007. Responses to the RFQ are due by 2:30 P.M., Monday, 18 December 2006. Vendors may submit their quotes on electronic company letterhead stationery, and/or on Standard Form (SF) 1449. Responses must be submitted electronically (Internet) to contact@example.gov. Services are required for approximately 4,000 users. Vendor must provide only the service described herein; no substitutions of services will be accepted. News and Wire Services are required, consisting of the following: (1) Provide video news feed service consisting of international video news reports, raw or rough cut vide, and English text scripts with foreign language translation and rundowns associated with the video news products. These products must emphasize international coverage; there is no requirement for video feeds and/or reporting on U.S. persons or places. These would be produced by the contractor and/or his suppliers; (2) A second feed devoted exclusively to twenty-four-hour coverage of breaking news; (3) The service shall consist of scheduled news feed segments, and ad hoc breaking events reporting. The service will deliver the news feed digitally via K-band satellite and will have the textual information incorporated in the vertical interval of the video signal. A decoder to separate the audio and visual images form the textual rundown information will be provided by the contractor; (4) Portions of the news feed shall be stored and archived by the Government for use in intelligence reporting; and (5) The news feed and photo service shall provide global coverage with demonstrated reporting capabilities from every country consistent with DIA?s areas of interest and timeliness requirements. The video, scripts and photos shall cover a wide range of international subjects of interest to DIA, including but not limited to: events in Iraq and other countries of interest to the U.S., current social, political, governmental, economic, and military organizations, capabilities and operations encompassing international relations, national elections, crises, coups, revolutions, terrorism, drug trafficking, organized crime, and advancements in science and technology. Overall, the majority of the material shall relate to persons, places and issues of concern to DIA, military intelligence and the larger intelligence community. The service shall focus on information gathering outside of the United States. The news feed service reports shall adhere to professional journalistic standards for being thorough, accurate, reliable, verifiable, and unbiased, containing information pertinent to significant changes in international social, economical, political and military activity. The service shall meet commercial news broadcast quality standards for video with Beta SP being the primary format used for field reporting. Vendors must quote their prices on an annual basis according to the following Contract Line Item Numbers (CLINs). CLIN 001 (Base Year) 01 January 2007 through 31 December 2007, CLIN 002 (Option Year One) 01 January 2008 through 31 December 2008, CLIN 003 (Option Year Two) 01 January 2009 through 31 December 2009, CLIN 004 (Option Year Three) 01 January 2010 through 31 December 2010, CLIN 005 (Option Year Four) 01 January 2011 through 31 December 2011. A single award will be made resulting from this combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial services. An award from this RFQ may be made to the vendor whose quotation offers the Government the Best Value, which is not necessarily the quotation with the lowest realistic cost or highest technical score. If the competitive range is considered essentially equal in terms of technical capability, the Government reserves the right to award to the offeror with the lowest price. The government may award a contract based on quotes received, without discussions with offerors.