In Country Produced Content
Added: Mar 17, 2017 5:39 pm In Country Produced ContentCombined Synopsis/SolicitationBBG50-R-17-00002i) 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; PROPOSALS ARE BEING REQUESTED AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE ISSUED.(ii) Solicitation No. BBG50-R-17-00002 is issued as a Request For Proposal (RFP) for a Firm-Fixed -Price Commercial Item contract that will be awarded using the contracting procedures in FAR Subpart 13.5.(iii) This solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect from the Federal Acquisition Regulations FAC 2005-94, 2005-95, dated January 19, 2017.(iv) This acquisition is unrestricted (full and open competition). The North American Industry Classification Systems (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 711510 (Independent Artists, Writers and Performers) with a small business size standard of $7.5.(v) The Contractor shall provide the Contract Line Items (CLINs) reflected in Attachment B for: Journalists (Stringer reporters) services in accordance with the contract terms and conditions. Please note: Contractors may submit an offer for one or more line items in Attachment B, and the government may make multiple awards.(vi) The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), (hereinafter the Agency), The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) is an Executive Branch Federal Government agency that oversees U.S. Broadcasting of news and information to audiences around the world. BBG includes the Voice of America (VOA) and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), as well as grantee entities Radio Free Asia (RFA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and the Middle East Broadcasting Network (MBN). Together, VOA and OCB distribute programming in English and 42 other languages to an estimated weekly audience of 175 million people. (See Attached Statement of Work) OCB is a multimedia hub of news, information and analysis, providing the people of Cuba with interactive programming seven days a week tough martinoticias.com; satellite television; shortwave and AM radio; flash drives, emails, DVDs and SMS text. The work of the OCB centers around promoting freedom and democracy by providing objective information to the Cuban population that would otherwise be unavailable. OCB produces content that is relevant to the daily lives of Cubans, and the work of human rights activists, journalists, and dissidents.C.1.2 SPECIFIC DUTIES HARD NEWS STORIESThe Contractor(s) is (are) responsible for (1) locating, recruiting, hiring, and managing journalists (stringer reporters) in various cities in Cuba in order to provide regular local news and feature reports to OCB (quantity and specifications as described in the deliverables section), (2) providing a project manager to coordinate between the network on the island of Cuba and OCB. The Contractor must ensure that the journalists (stringer reporters) are able to do the following:• Conduct interviews and provide fair, accurate, balanced, and objective news and feature stories in Spanish for broadcast on radio, television, mobile and web as required, including breaking news, and deliver news reports and work on short deadlines. • Must be able to gather photographs and video, and write, narrate or film (video) verifiable information, by two sources or based on eyewitness reports. • Must be able to both pitch their own stories and respond to the needs of the OCB newsrooms. Must have initiative and develop news stories and ideas independently once a story concept is approved by OCB. Must be able to generate original stories, which are subject to approval by OCB prior to work on such stories commencing, and establish a network of sources both in government and outside official channels in order to report on a wide variety of subjects. Stories regarding politics and economics are of particular interest. The stringers must also be able to identify and cover stories related to civil society, social issues, sports, arts and entertainment; . Stringers must have a mobile phone and know how to communicate via SMS, and how to send pictures and videos. Must know how to navigate on social media; • Must also comply with journalistic guidelines and standards set by OCB; • Stringers shall have journalism or equivalent experience to produce professional quality products. OCB will review their prior experience before they are hired and can submit stories for review; • Stringers must be able to show valid identification with current and correct information even if they go by a pseudonym, and must be approved by OCB prior to being employed by the Contractor.The stringers need not be full time employees of the Contractor (i.e. they can be freelancers) but the Contractor shall be solely responsible for all necessary paperwork and payments related to the employment and payment of said stringers, including taxes, tariffs, etc., as applicable.FEATURE STORIESThe Contractor(s) is (are) responsible for (1) locating, recruiting, hiring, and managing journalists (stringer reporters) in various cities in Cuba in order to provide regular feature reports to OCB (quantity and specifications as described in the deliverables section), (2) providing a project manager to coordinate between the network on the island of Cuba and OCB, and The Contractor must ensure that the journalists (stringer reporters) are able to do the following:• Conduct interviews and provide fair, accurate, balanced, and objective feature stories in Spanish for broadcast on radio, television, mobile and web as required, and work on short deadlines.• Must be able to gather photographs and video, and write, narrate or film (video) verifiable information, by two sources or based on eyewitness reports.• Must be able to both pitch their own stories and respond to the needs of the OCB newsrooms. Must have initiative and develop stories and ideas independently once a story concept is approved by OCB. Must be able to generate original stories, which are subject to approval by OCB prior to work on such stories commencing, Stringer should produce, write and edit storytelling videos that profile Cuban people. Also of particular interest to OCB are stories of arts, entertainment, daily living, and all kinds of feature stories that highlight the qualities of the Cuban people on island. The stringers must also be able to identify and cover stories related to civil society, social issues, sports, arts and entertainment.• Stringers must have a mobile phone and know how to communicate via SMS, and how to send pictures and videos. Must know how to navigate on social media;• Must also comply with journalistic guidelines and standards set by OCB;• Stringers shall have journalism or equivalent experience to produce professional quality products. OCB will review their prior experience before they are hired and can submit stories for review;• Stringers must be able to show valid identification with current and correct information even if they go by a pseudonym, and must be approved by OCB prior to being employed by the Contractor.BLOGS/ WRITTEN STORIESThe Contractor(s) is (are) responsible for (1) locating, recruiting, hiring, and managing journalists (stringer reporters) in various cities in Cuba in order to provide regular blogs to OCB (quantity and specifications as described in the deliverables section), (2) providing a project manager to coordinate between the network on the island of Cuba and OCB. The Contractor must ensure that the journalists (stringer reporters) are able to do the following:• Write blogs or columns addressing Cuba's social issues, civil society concerns and any other topic that would be of interest to the Cuban audiences.• Conduct interviews and provide fair, accurate, balanced, and objective stories.• Must be able to both pitch their own stories and respond to the needs of the OCB newsrooms. Must have initiative and develop stories and ideas independently once a story concept is approved by OCB. Must be able to generate original stories, which are subject to approval by OCB prior to work on such stories commencing,• Stringers must have a mobile phone and know how to communicate via SMS, and how to send pictures and videos. Must know how to navigate on social media; • Must also comply with journalistic guidelines and standards set by OCB; Stringers shall have journalism or equivalent experience to produce professional quality products. OCB will review their prior experience before they are hired and can submit stories for review;• Stringers must be able to show valid identification with current and correct information even if they go by a pseudonym, and must be approved by OCB prior to being employed by the Contractor.The stringers need not be full time employees of the Contractor (i.e. they can be freelancers) but the Contractor shall be solely responsible for all necessary paperwork and payments related to the employment and payment of said stringers, including taxes, tariffs, etc., as applicable.PHOTOGRAPHSThe Contractor(s) is (are) responsible for (1) locating, recruiting, hiring, and managing photo journalists (stringer reporters) in various cities in Cuba in order to provide regular reports to OCB (quantity and specifications as described in the deliverables section), (2) providing a project manager to coordinate between the network on the island of Cuba and OCB.The Contractor must ensure that the journalists (stringer reporters) are able to do the following:• Provide original pictures of news events, feature stories, social issues, civil society concerns and any other topic that would be of interest to the Cuban audiences.• On occasion provide series/various pictures of same topic for the creation of Thematic Slideshows for all the Marti's platforms.• Must be able to both pitch their own story ideas and respond to the needs of the OCB newsrooms. Must have initiative and develop stories and ideas independently once a story concept is approved by OCB. Must be able to generate original stories, which are subject to approval by OCB prior to work on such stories commencing,• Stringers must have their own camera and all equipment necessary for taking the photographs. Also needed is a mobile phone and to know how to communicate via SMS, FTP, and how to send pictures and videos. Must know how to navigate on social media;• Must also comply with journalistic guidelines and standards set by OCB;• Stringers shall have journalism or equivalent experience to produce professional quality products. OCB will review their prior experience before they are hired and can submit stories for review;• Stringers must be able to show valid identification with current and correct information even if they go by a pseudonym, and must be approved by OCB prior to being employed by the Contractor.The stringers need not be full time employees of the Contractor (i.e. they can be freelancers) but the Contractor shall be solely responsible for all necessary paperwork and payments related to the employment and payment of said stringers, including taxes, tariffs, etc., as applicable.Voice of America, subject to the availability of Fiscal Year 2017 funding, requires Contractor to be responsible for locating, recruiting, hiring, and managing journalists (stringer reporters) in various cities in Cuba in order to provide regular local news and feature reports to OCB (quantity and specifications as described in the deliverables section, (2) providing a project manager to coordinate between the network on the island of Cuba and OCB. (See Attachment, Statement of Work for additional details).(vii) The proposed period of performance will be a base period from May 1, 2017 tough October 31, 2017 (6 months), with options to extend four (4) additional one-year periods, at the discretion of the Government subject to the availability of funding. Place of Delivery is Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), 4201 NW 77th Ave, Miami, Florida. Place of Acceptance and FOB point is also OCB located in Miami Florida. The subsequent Options to Extend Term clause (FAR Clause 52.217-9) (if exercised) will follow sequentially for a total contract duration not to exceed sixty (60) months.(viii) The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provision FAR 52.212-1 Instruction to Offerors-Commercial Items, applies to this solicitation. Full text of all FAR clauses and provisions are available electronically at the following Internet address: (http://www.acquisition.gov/far). Interested offerors who are capable of providing a site license for newswire services should submit a proposal demonstrating their ability and experience in providing the required services.INTERESTED OFFERORS RESPONDING TO THIS SOLICITATION SHALL SUBMIT THE FOLLOWING ITEMS TO THE CONTRACTING OFFICER: (1) a Technical Proposal which addresses the technical factors described below in (ix) and (2) a Price Proposal in accordance with (ix). The Price Proposal must contain a copy of Attachment "B" entitled "SUPPLIES AND PRICES/COSTS" which must be filled out by the interested offeror. The Government plans to award without discussions, but may conduct discussions if it deems it is in the Government's best interest. The decision to hold discussions will be at the sole discretion of the Government. Thus any information an Offeror wishes the Government to consider shall be submitted with the Offeror's written proposal, since discussions may not occur.(ix) The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provision FAR 52.212-2 Evaluation-Commercial Items, applies to this solicitation. The Government intends to award one or more Commercial Item, Firm-Fixed-Price, contract(s) resulting from this RFP to the responsible offeror whose offer provides the best value to the Government. All Evaluation Factors other than Cost/Price when combined are significantly more important than Cost/Price. The Government reserves the right not to make an award as well as reserves the right to make an award to other than the lowest priced offer or to make an award to other than the offer with the highest technical rating if the Contracting Officer determines that to do so would result in the best value to the Government. The following factors shall be addressed in the technical proposals and shall be used to evaluate proposals: Factor 1: Technical Approach - The technical approach factor has four sub-factors (a-d) listed descending order of importance as follows: a). PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS - The Offeror shall be regularly engaged in the providing an international newswire service with a proved record of accuracy, reliability and journalistic integrity and shall be regarded by the commercial news industry as a bona fide news gathering organization and a competent and reliable source of news material. The Offeror must have bureaus in major cities around the world. While this solicitation is for textual newswires, the Offeror's experience in providing video news coverage, photos and web content will be viewed as further evidence of its reputation and breadth of experience. The Offeror must provide a list of its customer base. The Offeror must be able to deliver at least 1,000 stories per day. b). TECHNICAL CAPABILITY OF THE SERVICES OFFERED - The Offeror shall provide a narrative detailing the approach that it will take to meet the requirement and shall provide details as to technical specifications so that the newswire services can be used on TV, the Internet and mobile/wireless devices with equal detail of image. c).COMPREHENSIVENESS OF COVERAGE INCLUDING U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL, BREAKING NEWS AND FEATURES - The newswire services shall include a broad range of topics, including but not limited to domestic and international current events, conflicts, disasters, politics, medicine, environment, technology, business/finance, sports, entertainment and social issues. d). RELIABILITY/EASE OF ACCESS AND USE - The Offeror shall provide a narrative detailing the approach taken to deliver the newswire services to the Agency. The Offeror shall be responsible for maintaining in proper operating condition the lines and equipment which it furnishes. Factor 2: MANAGEMENT APPROACH - The Offeror must provide a description of the approach they will take to meet the requirement; Factor 3: EXPERIENCE - The Offeror shall provide recent examples of its work (within the past tee (3) years) demonstrating its experience in providing the services required under this Solicitation to Governmental or commercial customers. The Offeror shall have demonstrated experience in regularly being engaged in providing a newswire service known in the news industry for fair, balanced and comprehensive news coverage of news events, politics, natural events, business and financial news, sports, entertainment and lifestyle to Governmental and/or commercial customers; and Factor 4: PAST PERFORMANCE: The Offeror's Technical proposal shall contain detailed information on past performance and relevant contracts for same services with a minimum of tee (3) reference including contract numbers, points of contact with telephone numbers and email addresses (i.e., the point of contact who can verify the Offeror's past performance). Agency shall evaluate the Offeror's Past Performance pursuant to FAR 15.305(a)(2). Each Offeror's Past Performance shall be determined to be favorable or unfavorable. 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 will be evaluated as neutral. Interested offerors shall provide a Separate Price Proposal showing a price breakdown for the CLIN above. The prices shall be provided in English and United States dollars. The Price Proposal must contain Attachment B entitled "SUPPLIES AND PRICES/COSTS" which must be filled out by the offeror. The total price including options will be evaluated for completeness and reasonableness for award. Offerors are cautioned that failure to address each of the above evaluation factors may deem their proposal unacceptable.(x) Offerors shall include a completed copy of the provision FAR 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items with its offer which is completed by registering in the System for Award Management (SAM) website at: HTTPS://WWW.SAM.GOV/PORTAL. Proposals must also include contractor name and address, contractor's DUNS Number, prompt payment terms, and correct remittance address, if different from mailing address. THE SUCCESSFUL CONTRACTOR MUST BE REGISTERED ONLINE IN THE SAM WEB SITE 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'S REPRESENTATIVEThe Contracting Officer will appoint by letter a Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) who will have the responsibility of ensuring that the work performed by the Contractor conforms to the requirements of the contract and such other responsibilities and authorities as may be specified in the letter of authorization or in this contract. It is understood and agreed, in particular, that the COR shall not have the authority to make changes to 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 in the contract.THE CONTRACTOR IS HEREBY FOREWARNED THAT, ABSENT THE REQUISITE AUTHORITY OF THE CONTRACTING OFFICER'S REPRESENTATIVE (COR) TO MAKE ANY SUCH CHANGES, IT MAY BE HELD FULLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY CHANGES NOT AUTHORIZED IN ADVANCE, IN WRITING, BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER; MAY BE DENIED COMPENSATION OR OTHER RELIEF FOR ANY ADDITIONAL WORK PERFORMED THAT IS NOT SO AUTHORIZED; AND MAY ALSO BE REQUIRED, AT NO ADDITIONAL COSTS TO THE GOVERNMENT, TO TAKE ALL CORRECTIVE ACTION NECESSITATED BY REASON OF THE UNAUTHORIZED CHANGES.(End of clause)CONTRACT ADMINISTRATIONThe Contractor shall designate below a company official whom the BBG may contact during the period of performance of this contract for prompt contract administration:NAME:TITLE:ADDRESS:E-MAIL:PHONE:FACSIMILE:The Contractor shall also designate below a company official responsible for reviewing performance evaluation entered into the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS).NAME:TITLE:ADDRESS:E-MAIL:PHONE:FACSIMILE:INVOICE SUBMISSION(a) The Contractor shall submit an advanced quarterly invoice to the COR via email. The COR will be identified at the time of award. (b) The Contractor's quarterly invoice shall list: (1) name and address of Contractor, (2) invoice date and invoice number, (3) BBG contract number (e.g., BBG50-C-17-0000) and (4) the number of days services will be provided.(c) Pursuant to the Prompt Payment Act, the BBG will pay the invoice within 30 days of either: (1) receipt of the invoice or (2) acceptance of deliverables; whichever is later.Note No. 1: The BBG invoicing procedures are listed below under 1952.232-91. Any costs associated with complying with these procedures will be at the Contractor's expense. Note No. 2: The invoice date must be within the current quarter being billed. For example if the contract period of performance is 1/1/17 - 12/31/17, then the invoice for the first quarter can be dated any date from 1/1/17 to 3/31/17. In this example, the invoice cannot be dated earlier than 1/1/17.1952.232-91 Electronic Invoicing and Payment Requirements - Invoicing Payment Platform (IPP)(April 2016).Payment requests for all new awards must be submitted electronically tough the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Invoice Payment Platform System (IPP)."Payment request" means any request for contract financing payment or invoice payment by the Contractor. To constitute a proper invoice, the payment request must comply with the requirements identified in FAR 32.905(b). "Payment documentation and process" and the applicable Prompt Payment clause included in this contract. The IPP website address is: https://www.ipp.gov.Under this contract, the following documents are required to be submitted as an attachment to the IPP invoice (CO to edit and include the documentation required under this contract):The Contractor must follow the instruction on the attached Electronic Invoicing Advisory to enroll, access and use IPP for submitting requests for payment.If the Contractor is unable to comply with the requirement to use IPP for submitting invoices for payment, the Contractor must submit a waiver request in writing to the contracting officer.(End of clause)EXERCISING OF OPTIONS UNDER THIS CONTRACTThe Government reserves the right to exercise unilaterally the options in the contract subject to the availability of funding. The parties agree that the Government may partially exercise and fund any options in the contract and may do so multiple times up to the point that the option has been fully exercised and funded. The Contractor, however, will not be entitled to any additional compensation beyond that associated with the amount of the option exercise.In the event that BBG does not give written notice to exercise an option, the contract will expire at the end of the existing period of performance (the Base Period or Option Period) as applicable. Additionally, the parties agree that, in the event the BBG decides not to exercise any options, BBG will have no further obligation to the Contractor under this contract other than to pay for services the Contractor actually rendered to BBG hereunder.(End of clause)52.217-9 OPTION TO EXTEND THE TERM OF THE CONTRACT (MAR 2000)(a) The Government may extend the term of this contract by written notice to the Contractor within two (2) days of the expiration of the current period of performance; provided that the Government gives the Contractor a preliminary written notice of its intent to extend at least thirty (30) days before the contract expires. The preliminary notice does not commit the Government to an extension.(b) If the Government exercises this option, the extended contract shall be considered to include this option clause.(c) The total duration of this contract, including the exercise of any options under this clause, shall not exceed sixty (60) months.(End of clause)NOTICE OF DELAYNotice of Delay - In the event the Contractor becomes aware of a potential delay, the Contractor shall immediately notify the Contracting Officer and COR by via email. Such email shall include the nature of the delay and whether it will have any impact (positive or negative) on the Contract.(End of clause)(xii) FAR Clause 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items (Jan 2017), applies to this solicitation by reference and proposed subsequent contract as well as the following clauses contained within FAR clause 52.212-5: 52.202-1 Definitions (Nov 2013; 52.203-3 Gratuities (Apr 1984);52.203-6 Restrictions on Subcontractor Sales to the Government (Sept 2006) with Alternate I Oct. 1995);52.203-17 Contractor Employee Whistleblower Rights andRequirement To Inform Employees of Whistleblower Rights (Apr 2014);52.203-19 Prohibition on Requiring Certain Internal Confidentiality Agreements or Statements(Jan 2017)52.204-10 Reporting Executive compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards (Oct 2016); 52.204-19 Incorporated by Reference of Representationsand Certifications (Dec 2014);52.209-6 Protecting the Government's Interest When Subcontracting with Contractors Debarred, Suspended, or Proposed for Debarment Oct 2015); 52.209-9 Updates of Publicly Available Information Regarding Responsibility Matters (Jul 2013);52.219-8 Utilization of Small Business Concerns Nov 2016); 52.219-28 Post Award Small Business ProgramRepresentation (Jul 2013); 52.222-3 Convict Labor (June 2003); 52.222-19 Child Labor-Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies (Oct 2016); 52.222-21 Prohibition of Segregated Facilities (Apr 2015); 52.222-26 Equal Opportunity (Sep 2016) (E.O. 11246); 52.222-35 Equal Opportunity for Veterans (Oct 2015); 52.222-36 Equal Opportunity for Workers with Disabilities (Jul 2014); 52.222-37 Employment Reports on Veterans (Feb 2016); 52.222-40 Notification of Employee Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act (Dec 2010);52.222-50 Combating Trafficking in Persons (Mar 2015); 52.223-18 Encouraging Contractor Policies to Ban Text Messaging while Driving (Aug 2011); 52.225-13 Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases (June 2008); 52.227-18 Existing Works (Dec 2007) and 52.232-33 Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer-System for Award Management (Jul 2013).(xiii) Additional FAR provisions and clauses incorporated by reference and applicable to this solicitation and the proposed subsequent contract are:52.232-18 Availability of Funds (Apr 1984).52.204-7 System for Award Management (Oct 2016);52.209-2 Prohibition on Contracting with Inverted Domestic Corporations-Representation (Nov 2015);52.209-7 Information Regarding Responsibility Matters (Jul 2013);(xiv) No Defense Priorities and Allocation System (DPAS) rating assigned.(xv) Failure to provide the above the required services for any the above CLIN may result in the rejection of your proposal. Questions concerning this solicitation must be submitted in writing and must be received by the Contracting Specialist, Seneca Belinfontie, no later than March 24, 2017, 12:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time on via email at CONQ&A@bbg.gov. Offerors are cautioned not to direct questions concerning this solicitation to anyone but the Contracting Specialist. No questions will be accepted after the established deadline date. Proposals shall be in writing and must be signed by an official who is authorized to bind the organization. Fax or oral proposals will not be accepted. Proposals shall be submitted electronically via email to Seneca Belinfontie at CONSOL@bbg.gov. All proposals must be received by April 5, 2017, 12:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time on insert date. Offerors are reminded to submit two separate attachments - a technical proposal and a separate price proposal. Offerors may send one email with both attachments. ALL ATTACHMENTS MUST BE SENT IN "PDF FORMAT" AND THE TOTAL SIZE OF ALL ATTACHMENTS MUST NOT EXCEED 23MB. ALL SUBMISSIONS MUST INCLUDE THE SOLICITATION NUMBER (BBG50-R-17-00002) IN THE SUBJECT LINE.(xvi) Contact: Seneca Belinfontie, Contract Specialist, Facsimile (202) 382-7870, email: sbelinfo@VOANews.COM. All responsible sources may submit an offer that will be considered by the Agency.
BBG50-R-17-00002 US Agency for Global Media
3/17/17, 5:39 PM