USACE, CHICAGO DISTRICT'S REGIONAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT MAINTENANCE AND LICENSE FOLLOW ON CONTRACT WITH THE REGIONAL ECONOMIC MODELS, INC.

By way of this notice, and in accordance with FAR 6.302-1 (a)(2) (ii) (A) and (B), the Chicago District -U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announces its intention to award a FOLLOW-ON sole source contract to REGIONAL ECONOMIC MODELS, INC. (REMI) for the continuation of maintenance for 169 Sectors of the REMI Policy Insight and 70 Sectors of the REMI TranSight plus the applicable model licenses. This acquisition supports the Great Lakes-Mississippi River Interbasin Study (GLMRIS). This requirement is deemed necessary from the original vendor, as proposed hereunder to follow-on the continued maintenance of highly specialized forecasting models that have been configured to the required 4-region, multi sector model that is in current use by the District. Through REMI's maintenance program, the model would remain stable and robust. REMI is the original provider of the model and license; award to any other contractor would mean costly research and development efforts that have already been completed by the original vendor, REMI. Additionally, an entire new model itself would need to be developed if the maintenance and license agreement were not implemented by way of a follow on contract. Therefore, if contracting with a new vendor to undergo the research necessary to implement a new model, would result in a substantial duplication of cost. Cost to configure a new system would be extremely pricey. Costs of this sort are not expected to be recovered through competition. Furthermore, if award were made to a new contractor, there wouldn't be sufficient time for it to implement a new configuration prior to the pre-existing maintenance contract expiring. This would result in the District being vulnerable to instability of the model without means of maintenance protection and continued license under the REMI product. The current model developed by REMI includes private non-farm industry sectors, farm and government sections. It includes a public sector that is capable of manipulation through spending, employment and taxes. With the abundance of capability already on hand, any newly started acquisition would cause costly and unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency's requirements. The performance time for this FOLLOW-ON Contract will be approximately 365 calendar days/12 months from the contractor's acceptance of the Purchase Order. This notice is NOT a Request for Proposals; therefore, NO solicitation documents will be issued. Award is anticipated on or about 15 September 2014. Any response to this notice must demonstrate that competition would be advantageous to the government. In doing so, interested sources must submit technical capabilities, pricing, and other information that demonstrates their ability to meet the requirements described above. Detailed capabilities must be submitted to Kim Beard at kim.m.beard@.usace.army.mil with a copy furnished to Regina Blair at regina.g.blair@usace.army.mil (ENSURE that the Solicitation Number of "W912P6-14-Q-0037" & Project Title is included in the subject line of your email). --Note that any electronic files (EMAIL) CANNOT EXCEED this Agency's size limit of 20MB (includes email and its attachments); files exceeding this size will be denied access to Ms. Beard's and Ms Blair's email inbox. No contract will be awarded on the basis of offers received in response to this notice, but offers will be used to determine if a comparable source is available and more advantageous to the government. If no affirmative written response is received by midnight (CDT) on 7 September 2014, a contract may be issued to REMI without further notice. Point of Contact for this Notice is Kim Beard at 312-846-5378.