(1) Solicitation letter_FDE.pdf

Forensic Document Examiner

70US0923R70093579

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE

Washington, D.C. 20223

TO: Interested Offerors Date: 24 August 2023

FROM: Sonja Abolola, Contracting Officer, USSS

SUBJECT: Request for Proposal 70US0923R70093579, Senior Document Analyst

1. The purpose of this solicitation is to establish an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract for Forensic Senior Document Analyst support for the United States Secret Service (USSS) Forensic Services Division (FSD).

2. This solicitation contains a two-phased source selection approach, and the winning offeror will be selected based on best-value. Interested Offerors are to provide an electronic copy of their Phase I proposal submission to Contract Specialist, Donna Heinz, at donna.heinz@associates.usss.dhs.gov no later than 9/6/2023 at 12:00 pm EST. Each email shall be no larger than 10 MB in size.

3. All questions must be received on or before 12:00 pm EST on 8/30/2023. This will allow a reply to be provided in a timely manner before offers are due. To ensure traceability for questions, Offeror’s shall respond via the Question and Comment Matrix at Attachment 7 and cite the applicable attachment, section, paragraph, and page numbers. NO TELEPHONIC QUESTIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED.

4. For competitors that remain within the competitive range, Phase II proposals will be due approximately 7 calendar days after the Offeror receives written notice they are in the competitive range and invited to submit Phase II proposals. Details regarding the specific date and time Phase II proposals are due will be within the offeror’s competitive range notification letter. Each Offeror in the competitive range will receive the exact same amount of time between receipt of their notification letter and their Phase II proposal due date, to ensure a fair and equitable process.

5. The solicitation does not commit the Government to pay any cost for the preparation and submission of a proposal. The Government will not pay any pre-award costs incurred by the offeror in response to this solicitation In addition, the Contracting Officer is the only individual who can legally commit the Government to the expenditure of public funds in connection with the proposed acquisition. The Government reserves the right to make administrative price/technical trade-offs that are in the best interest and to the advantage of the Government.

6. Unless specifically allowed elsewhere in this solicitation, each file shall be formatted for portrait orientation, letter-size paper, front-and-back printing, and one-inch margins all around. Color is acceptable, but the offer must be readable when printed in black-and-white. A standard ten-point or larger font shall be used for normal text, but tables and figures may use a nine-point or larger font. Text spacing and line spacing shall not be compressed. All pages shall be numbered.

mailto:donna.heinz@associates.usss.dhs.gov

7. Each file shall comply with the instructions of this provision as well as any other provisions of this solicitation. The government may reject any offer that does not comply with this notice’s instructions.

Offerors may submit attachments in multiple emails due to size constraints; however, the complete proposal (including all required submissions) must be received by the due date and time noted above.

8. The government may waive or allow correction of informalities and minor irregularities in offers received.

9. It is the responsibility of the offeror to make arrangements to ensure their proposal is received prior to the time and date set for the receipt of proposals. Offerors must ensure they submit proposals with sufficient time to reach the required destination no later than the response due date identified above. Offerors are strongly encouraged to verify receipt of the response (via email) as noted above. No late proposals will be considered.

10. All proposals must clearly and convincingly demonstrate that the offeror has a thorough understanding of the requirements and associated risks, and is able, willing, and competent to devote the resources necessary to meet or exceed the requirements. Failure of an offeror to address any items listed in FAR 52.212-1 and this letter may make the offer unacceptable and may result in it not being considered for award. Offers shall remain firm for at least 30 calendar days. Alternate proposals are not requested and will not be evaluated.

11. One or more aspects of an offering contractor's offer may be incorporated into the resulting contract from this solicitation.

12. Exceptions. The offering contractor shall provide an unambiguous statement that it agrees to all clauses, terms, or conditions (including all PWS requirements) as shown in this solicitation (and its attachments). If the offering contractor takes exception to this notice in any way, it shall provide a table describing its exceptions in the format shown below. This is not an invitation for offering contractors to request exceptions, and the government may reject an offer with exceptions as unacceptable without any further exchanges with the offering contractor. (Page limit: one page).

Solicitation Citation Exception Taken Rationale and Impact

Document, page no., paragraph no., as appropriate

Narrative describing the requirement to which exception is taken (and offering contractor's proposed substitution, if anv)

Narrative describing the rationale for the exception and the impact on the government.

13. Cover letter (Page limit: one page). The cover page of each electronic file within the proposal shall include the following information at a minimum:

• Solicitation Number and Solicitation Title

• Contractor Name, UEI Number

• Tax ID Number

• Socio-Economic Status and Size Determination

• Complete Business Mailing Address

• Point(s) of Contact (Name, Title, email address, phone number)

14. Table of Contents (no page limit), the Offeror shall submit the technical volume (Factors 1 and 2 in Phase I and Factors 3-5 if invited to Phase II) separate from the business volume (Factor 6 and all other contractual documents to include clause fill-ins, as appropriate.

(a) The Offeror shall submit Representations and Certifications as required by FAR 52.212-3.

(b) The Offeror shall provide any fill-ins completed along with other documentation required by any clause or provision of the solicitation. Page limit: No limit.

(c) The Offeror shall submit a completed copy of INFORMATION REGARDING RESPONSIBILITY MATTERS – FAR 52.209-7. Offerors must be determined responsible in order to be considered for entry into Phase II.

(d) Subcontractor Listing. The offering contractor should clearly identify all subcontractors it will utilize under the IDIQ, annotate which are major subcontractors (performing more than 25% of the effort) and clearly identify each subcontractor’s role within the contract. (Page limit: one page)

(e) If applicable, the Offeror shall submit their Subcontracting Plan or Small Business Attesting Letter.

(f) Subcontracting Plan (no page limit): To assure that maximum opportunities are provided to Small, HUBZone small, Small Disadvantaged, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, and Women- Owned Small Business concerns to participate in the performance of this contract, in accordance with FAR 19.704, Offerors which are not small business concerns shall submit a Small Business Subcontracting Plan conforming to the requirements of the clause at FAR 52.219-9, Subcontracting Plan. Offerors shall follow the format listed within Clause FAR 52.219-9. If the Offeror requires a Subcontracting Plan, the Offeror shall submit the plan at the same time they submit their Phase II submission.

(g) If required, the Offeror’s Small Business Subcontracting Plan will be approved by the CO prior to award, and incorporated into the resulting contract, but is not an evaluation factor under this solicitation.

(h) Small Business Size Status Letter: Offerors which are small business concerns shall submit a one- page letter attesting to your firms’ small business status based on NAICS code 541990, instead of a copy of the small business subcontracting plan.

(i) Phase I Business Section: Cover letter, pricing sheet (Attachment 3 of this RFP), exceptions (if any) and identification of Subcontractors (if any), acknowledgements of amendments (via signed letter), exceptions (if any), Reps and Certs and all required clauses with fill-ins. (no page limit)

(15) To assure timely and equitable evaluation of proposals, offerors must follow the instructions contained herein. Offerors are required to meet all solicitation requirements, including terms and conditions, representations and certifications, and technical requirements. Failure to meet a requirement may result in an offer being ineligible for award. Offerors must clearly identify any exceptions to the solicitation terms and conditions and provide complete accompanying rationale.

(16) The government intends to evaluate proposals and award a contract without discussions with Offerors (except clarifications as described in FAR 15.306(a)). Therefore, the Offeror's initial proposal should contain the Offeror's best terms from a cost or price and technical standpoint. The Government reserves the right to conduct discussions if the CO later determines them to be necessary.

17. We have attached the Performance Work Statement (Attachment 1), Clauses (Attachment 2) – provided in both MS Word (to assist with clause fill-in) and Adobe Acrobat, Pricing Sheet (Attachment 3), Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) (Attachment 4), Instructions to Offerors (Attachment 5), Basis of Award (Attachment 6) and the Question and Comment Matrix (Attachment 7). Attachments 1-4, and element of the offeror’s proposal, will become Attachments to the resulting IDIQ. Note the Instructions to Offerors contains the instructions, the evaluation criteria, and additional documents required for submission that are not noted in this letter, as well as page limits for these additional documents.

18. Note: Non-Government participants (the Contract Specialist) will have access to the offerors’ proposals and that submission of an offer will constitute consent to the disclosure of proprietary information to all non-Government participants during the source selection.

19. The period of performance for the IDIQ is 3-years starting from date of award.

20. Thank you, we appreciate your support of the USSS mission. Should you have questions, please contact the contract specialist at donna.heinz@associates.usss.dhs.gov

Respectfully, Sonja Ablola Contracting Officer

Attachments:

1. PWS

2. Clauses

3. Pricing Sheet

4. QASP

5. Instructions to Offerors

6. Basis of Award

7. Question and Comment Matrix