VOA/Persian News Network-Senior Writer/Researcher (Offsite)

MODIFICATION #1 Response to Questions is added as attachment named "Response to Questions" to posting. All else remains the same __________________________________________________________________ THIS IS A COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION 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; QUOTES ARE BEING REQUESTED AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE ISSUED. This combined synopsis/solicitation is issued as a Request for Quote to establish an award for a Senior Wrier/Researcher for VOA Persian News. A Full description is in the attached Statement of Work. The Government intends to award a Blanket Purchase Agreement; however, the Government reserves the right not to award any Blanket Purchase Agreement. Any resultant Blanket Purchase Agreement will be for two years. This solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect from the Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-95 dated January 19, 2017. Solicitation No. BBGCON-RFQ005-PA-PNN is issued as a Request for Quotes (RFQ) and contracts will be awarded using simplified acquisition procedures in FAR Subpart Part 13.5. The North American Classification System Code is 711510 with a small business class size of 7.5M respectively. This is a one hundred percent (100%) total small business set-aside. Quotes and questions must be submitted electronically to contact@example.gov. The Statement of Work title must be in the subject field of the e-mail. The deadline to submit questions is April 4, 2017 at 12PM Eastern Standard Time. Answers will be posted. ALL TECHNICAL AND PRICE PROPOSALS MUST BE SUBMITTED ELECTRONICALLY BEFORE THE CLOSING DEADLINE to: contact@example.gov NO proposals will be accepted via mail nor fax nor by courier Quote packages are due no later than Friday April 7, 2017 at 12 Noon Eastern Standard Time. Interested contractors are required to submit two (2) separate written documents (Technical quote and price quote) to the BBG. 1. A Price Quote that states the Offeror's proposed price based per assignment. Assignment definition is described on the attached Statement of Work. State your price quote as $___________ per assignment 2. Technical Quote (Resume) that states in detail the Offeror's experience, qualifications and evidence of the Offeror's pertinent past performance that can be easily and quickly validated by the BBG. Dates (months/years) and locations for all field experience must also be detailed. Qualifications under - Contractor Qualifications in Statement of Work must be addressed for quote to be considered technically acceptable. 3. Eligibility to work in the United States: copy of US Citizenship, work permit, photo ID and/or visa. 4. Copy of active Registration in SAM. HTTPS://www.sam.gov In the event offerors did not complete the responsibility and certification portion of the SAM registration they shall include completed copy of the provision at FAR Subpart 52.212-3 (Offeror Representations and Certifications - Commercial Items) with its offer. This provision can be found at the following website https://www.acquisition.gov/Far/; if requested by an offeror, a copy of FAR subpart 52.212-3 can be obtained by contacting the Contracting Officer. Period of Performance: Approximate date to start April 21, 2017 for two year award Time of Performance: The VOA is a 24/7 news/ program operation and the schedule will vary depending on the need of the government. The Contracting Officer Representative will make the determination at the time of award. Applicable Clauses: The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provision FAR 52.212-1 Instructions 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 their ability and experience in providing the required services. FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors'Commercial (Jan 2017); FAR 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications'Commercial Items (Jan 2017); FAR 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions'Commercial Items (JAN 2017); FAR 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required To Implement Statutes or Executive Orders'Commercial Items (Jan 2017); 52.204-13 System for Award Management Maintenance (Oct 2016) IMPORTANT: All stateside contractors seeking to contract with the Federal Government must register in the Federal Government vetting system called SAM (System for Acquisition Management). No SAM registration questions will be addressed through this request for quote. SAM: System for Award Management (SAM) applies to this procurement. You must be registered in SAM in order to be eligible to receive an award from this solicitation. Information on SAM registration and annual confirmation requirements may be obtained via the Internet at http://www.sam.gov. Prospective contractors must be registered in SAM database prior to award. Lack of registration in SAM database will make an offeror ineligible for award. CONTRACTORS MUST COMPLY WITH FAR 52.204-99 System for Award Management (SAM) Registration (August 2012) (DEVIATION). Basis of Award: The Government will award a multiple award Firm-Fixed Price Blanket Purchase Agreement resulting from this RFQ to the responsible offerors whose quotes conforming to the RFQ shall provide the best value to the Government, based on the LOWEST PRICE TECHNICALLY ACCEPTABLE procedures. The quotes will be evaluated using FAR Part 13 procedures. NOTE: Qualifications under - Contractor Qualifications in Statement of Work must be addressed in quote package for quote to be considered technically acceptable. The Government reserves the right to make a selection based upon the initial quote submissions so the offeror should submit its best terms in the initial proposal. The Government may also determine to make no award. Offerors will be selected who are deemed responsible in accordance with FAR 9.104-1 and whose offer provides the Government with a best value solution. ELECTRONIC INVOICING IS A REQUIREMENT OF THIS CONTRACT IPP (Invoice Processing Platform) is the no cost on-line Treasury system being used at BBG for vendor invoicing and is a requirement of all new contract awards. The web address for the IPP billing system is www.ipp.gov. IPP is a very easy to navigate vendor invoicing system that allows you to directly attach invoice support (following format type: .doc, .docx, .htm, .html, .jpeg, .jpg, .pdf, .rtf, .tif, .tiff, .xls, and .xlsx). Your invoices will directly route to your COR for review and approval and then to the financial system for review and processing. You will be able to view the approval process directly on-line. What do I do now? 1. If you are already enrolled as an IPP user, follow the BBG notification steps below. 2. If you are not enrolled with IPP then go to the web page www.ipp.gov. In the middle of the page along the right there is a Vendors and "enroll now" button. The vendor requirements can be viewed at this link: https://www.ipp.gov/vendors/enrollment-vendors.htm. Once you are enrolled with IPP follow the instructions below to notify BBG. BBG notification Email the BBG systems team at contact@example.gov that you have enrolled in IPP and they will code you as an IPP vendor in our financial system. In the subject line of the email state, IPP vendor and your company name, see below for an example: "IPP vendor enroll - ABC Company" Once you are coded by the systems team you will receive a BBG vendor notification email and your contracts will be available in IPP for you to begin billing. The email notification will be addressed to the POC your company provided Treasury IPP when you registered. For assistance in enrolling and receiving your IPP password, Treasury toll free customer service is available Monday through Friday from 8:00 am - 6:00 pm at +1 (555) 000-0000 and their email address is contact@example.gov. BBG is unable to register vendors into IPP or provide/reset passwords.