1333ND21QNB770420.pdf

RFQ IFB RFP

WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS

(WOSB) ELIGIBLE UNDER THE WOMEN-OWNED

SOLICITATION/CONTRACT/ORDER FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS

OFFEROR TO COMPLETE BLOCKS 12, 17, 23, 24, & 30

1. REQUISITION NUMBER PAGE OF

2. CONTRACT NO. 3. AWARD/EFFECTIVE

DATE

4. ORDER NUMBER 5. SOLICITATION NUMBER 6. SOLICITATION ISSUE

DATE

7. FOR SOLICITATION

INFORMATION CALL:

a. NAME b. TELEPHONE NUMBER (No collect calls)

8. OFFER DUE DATE/

LOCAL TIME

9. ISSUED BY

13b. RATING

14. METHOD OF SOLICITATION

CODE

15. DELIVER TO 16. ADMINISTERED BY CODE

18a. PAYMENT WILL BE MADE BY CODEFACILITY

CODE

CODE

TELEPHONE NO.

17b. CHECK IF REMITTANCE IS DIFFERENT AND PUT SUCH ADDRESS IN

OFFER

18b. SUBMIT INVOICES TO ADDRESS SHOWN IN BLOCK 18a UNLESS BLOCK

BELOW IS CHECKED

SEE ADDENDUM

19.

ITEM NO.

20.

SCHEDULE OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES

21.

QUANTITY

22.

UNIT

23.

UNIT PRICE

24.

AMOUNT

(Use Reverse and/or Attach Additional Sheets as Necessary)

25. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA 26. TOTAL AWARD AMOUNT (For Govt. Use Only)

28. CONTRACTOR IS REQUIRED TO SIGN THIS DOCUMENT AND RETURN

DELIVER ALL ITEMS SET FORTH OR OTHERWISE IDENTIFIED ABOVE AND ON ANY

ADDITIONAL SHEETS SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS SPECIFIED

29. AWARD OF CONTRACT: REF.

DATED . YOUR OFFER ON SOLICITATION

(BLOCK 5), INCLUDING ANY ADDITIONS OR CHANGES WHICH ARE

SET FORTH HEREIN, IS ACCEPTED AS TO ITEMS:

30a. SIGNATURE OF OFFEROR/CONTRACTOR

30b. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print) 30c. DATE SIGNED

31a. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (SIGNATURE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER)

31b. NAME OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print) 31c. DATE SIGNED

AUTHORIZED FOR LOCAL REPRODUCTION

PREVIOUS EDITION IS NOT USABLE

STANDARD FORM 1449 (REV. 2/2012)

Prescribed by GSA - FAR (48 CFR) 53.212

COPIES TO ISSUING OFFICE. CONTRACTOR AGREES TO FURNISH AND

OFFER

13a. THIS CONTRACT IS A

RATED ORDER UNDER

DPAS (15 CFR 700)

11. DELIVERY FOR FOB DESTINA-

TION UNLESS BLOCK IS

MARKED

SEE SCHEDULE

12. DISCOUNT TERMS

ARE ARE NOT ATTACHED

ARE ARE NOT ATTACHED

27a. SOLICITATION INCORPORATES BY REFERENCE FAR 52.212-1, 52.212-4. FAR 52.212-3 AND 52.212-5 ARE ATTACHED. ADDENDA

27b. CONTRACT/PURCHASE ORDER INCORPORATES BY REFERENCE FAR 52.212-4. FAR 52.212-5 IS ATTACHED. ADDENDA

17a CONTRACTOR/

OFFEROR.

CODE

8 (A)

SIZE STANDARD:

NAICS:

% FOR:SET ASIDE:UNRESTRICTED OR

SERVICE-DISABLED

VETERAN-OWNED

SMALL BUSINESS

HUBZONE SMALL

BUSINESS

SMALL BUSINESS

10. THIS ACQUISITION IS

EDWOSB

SMALL BUSINESS PROGRAM

NB774020-21-01500

1333ND21QNB770420

JANUARY MAGYAR

JANUARY.MAGYAR@NIST.GOV 301-975-5442

12:00 PM ET

000SB

NATIONAL INST OF STDS AND TECHNOLOGY

100 BUREAU DRIVE STOP 1640

BUILDING 301 ROOM B129

GAITHERSBURG MD 20899-1640

541990

000004

NATIONAL INST OF STDS AND TECHNOLOGY

BUILDING 301 SHIPPING AND RECEIVING

100 BUREAU DRIVE

GAITHERSBURG MD 20899-0001

see continuation page for line item details.

See Schedule

AUG 27, 2021

Please

STANDARD FORM 1449 (REV. 2/2012) BACK

19.

ITEM NO.

20.

SCHEDULE OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES

21.

QUANTITY

22.

UNIT

23.

UNIT PRICE

24.

AMOUNT

32a. QUANTITY IN COLUMN 21 HAS BEEN

RECEIVED INSPECTED ACCEPTED, AND CONFORMS TO THE CONTRACT, EXCEPT AS NOTED:

41a. I CERTIFY THIS ACCOUNT IS CORRECT AND PROPER FOR PAYMENT

32b. SIGNATURE OF AUTHORIZED GOVERNMENT

REPRESENTATIVE

32c. DATE

41b. SIGNATURE AND TITLE OF CERTIFYING OFFICER 41c. DATE

42a. RECEIVED BY (Print)

42b. RECEIVED AT (Location)

42c. DATE REC'D (YY/MM/DD) 42d. TOTAL CONTAINERS

40. PAID BY

32d. PRINTED NAME AND TITLE OF AUTHORIZED GOVERNMENT

REPRESENTATIVE

32e. MAILING ADDRESS OF AUTHORIZED GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE 32f. TELPHONE NUMBER OF AUTHORZED GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE

32g. E-MAIL OF AUTHORIZED GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE

33. SHIP NUMBER 34. VOUCHER NUMBER 35. AMOUNT VERIFIED

CORRECT FOR

PARTIAL FINAL

37. CHECK NUMBER

38. S/R ACCOUNT NO. 39. S/R VOUCHER NUMBER

36. PAYMENT

COMPLETE PARTIAL FINAL

1333ND21QNB770420

Attachment Page

PAGE 3 OF 59 1333ND21QNB770420

This solicitation is a Request for Quotations (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2020-05, effective March 10, 2021.

The associated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 541990 – All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services with a small business size standard of $16.5 Million.

This acquisition is being procured 100% set aside for Small Business concerns. FAR Part 12 and FAR Part 13.5 acquisition procedures will be utilized.

The Government intends to award one Indefinite Delivery/ Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to provide evaluation support for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Information Access Division's Retrieval Group’s Text Retrieval Conference (TREC), Text Retrieval Conference Video Retrieval Evaluation (TRECVID) and Text Analysis Conference (TAC), as described in the attached IDIQ Statement of Work.

The maximum cumulative amount of all orders placed under the awarded IDIQ contract shall be $1,500,000.00.

SCHEDULE Continued

ITEM NO. SUPPLIES/SERVICES QUANTITY UNIT UNIT PRICE AMOUNT

0001 Contractor Performance of NIST Text Retrieval Conference (TREC), Text Retrieval Conference Video Retrieval Evaluation (TRECVID) and Text Analysis Conference (TAC) Support Services

Period of Performance: 5 Years from Date of Award

1.00 LO

PAGE 4 OF 59 1333ND21QNB770420

Table of Contents

Statement of Work - IDIQ

Instructions to Offerors

Evaluation Factors

Statement of Work - Mock Task Order

List of Attachments

52.202-1DEFINITIONS (JUN 2020)

52.203-3 GRATUITIES (APR 1984)

52.203-11 CERTIFICATION AND DISCLOSURE REGARDING PAYMENTS TO INFLUENCE CERTAIN FEDERAL TRANSACTIONS (SEP

2007)

52.203-12LIMITATION ON PAYMENTS TO INFLUENCE CERTAIN FEDERAL TRANSACTIONS (JUN 2020)

52.204-4 PRINTED OR COPIED DOUBLE-SIDED ON POSTCONSUMER FIBER CONTENT PAPER (MAY 2011)

52.204-7 SYSTEM FOR AWARD MANAGEMENT (OCT 2018)

52.204-9 PERSONAL IDENTITY VERIFICATION OF CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL (JAN 2011)

52.204-13SYSTEM FOR AWARD MANAGEMENT MAINTENANCE (OCT 2018)

52.204-16COMMERCIAL AND GOVERNMENT ENTITY CODE REPORTING (AUG 2020)

52.204-17OWNERSHIP OR CONTROL OF OFFEROR (AUG 2020)

52.204-18COMMERCIAL AND GOVERNMENT ENTITY CODE MAINTENANCE (AUG 2020)

52.204-19 INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE OF REPRESENTATIONS AND CERTIFICATIONS (DEC 2014)

52.204-20PREDECESSOR OF OFFEROR (AUG 2020)

52.204-21 BASIC SAFEGUARDING OF COVERED CONTRACTOR INFORMATION SYSTEMS (JUN 2016)

52.204-24REPRESENTATION REGARDING CERTAIN TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND VIDEO SURVEILLANCE SERVICES OR EQUIPMENT

(OCT 2020)

52.204-26COVERED TELECOMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT OR SERVICES--REPRESENTATION (OCT 2020)

52.209-2 PROHIBITION ON CONTRACTING WITH INVERTED DOMESTIC CORPORATIONS-REPRESENTATION (NOV 2015)... 35

52.209-5CERTIFICATION REGARDING RESPONSIBILITY MATTERS (AUG 2020)

52.209-7 INFORMATION REGARDING RESPONSIBILITY MATTERS (OCT 2018)

52.209-11 REPRESENTATION BY CORPORATIONS REGARDING DELINQUENT TAX LIABILITY OR A FELONY CONVICTION UNDER

ANY FEDERAL LAW (FEB 2016)

52.212-1INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS--COMMERCIAL ITEMS (JUL 2021)

52.212-3OFFEROR REPRESENTATIONS AND CERTIFICATIONS--COMMERCIAL ITEMS (FEB 2021)

52.212-4 CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDITIONS--COMMERCIAL ITEMS (OCT 2018)

52.222-22 PREVIOUS CONTRACTS AND COMPLIANCE REPORTS (FEB 1999)

52.225-14 INCONSISTENCY BETWEEN ENGLISH VERSION AND TRANSLATION OF CONTRACT (FEB 2000)

52.225-17 EVALUATION OF FOREIGN CURRENCY OFFERS (FEB 2000)

52.225-25PROHIBITION ON CONTRACTING WITH ENTITIES ENGAGING IN CERTAIN ACTIVITIES OR TRANSACTIONS RELATING

TO IRAN--REPRESENTATION AND CERTIFICATIONS (JUN 2020)

52.227-14 RIGHTS IN DATA--GENERAL (MAY 2014)

52.227-17 RIGHTS IN DATA--SPECIAL WORKS (DEC 2007)

52.229-3 FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL TAXES (FEB 2013)

52.232-1 PAYMENTS (APR 1984)

52.232-8 DISCOUNTS FOR PROMPT PAYMENT (FEB 2002)

52.232-11 EXTRAS (APR 1984)

52.232-17 INTEREST (MAY 2014)

52.232-23 ASSIGNMENT OF CLAIMS (MAY 2014)

52.232-25 PROMPT PAYMENT (JAN 2017)

52.232-39 UNENFORCEABILITY OF UNAUTHORIZED OBLIGATIONS (JUNE 2013)

52.232-40 PROVIDING ACCELERATED PAYMENTS TO SMALL BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTORS (DEC 2013)

52.233-1 DISPUTES (MAY 2014)

52.233-4 APPLICABLE LAW FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT CLAIM (OCT 2004)

52.237-2 PROTECTION OF GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS, EQUIPMENT, AND VEGETATION (APR 1984)

52.242-13 BANKRUPTCY (JUL 1995)

PAGE 5 OF 59 1333ND21QNB770420

Table of Contents

52.247-34 F.O.B. DESTINATION (NOV 1991)

52.252-5AUTHORIZED DEVIATIONS IN PROVISIONS (NOV 2020)

52.252-6AUTHORIZED DEVIATIONS IN CLAUSES (NOV 2020)

52.253-1 COMPUTER GENERATED FORMS (JAN 1991)

52.212-2 EVALUATION--COMMERCIAL ITEMS (OCT 2014)

52.212-5CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDITIONS REQUIRED TO IMPLEMENT STATUTES OR EXECUTIVE ORDERS--COMMERCIAL

ITEMS (JUL 2021)

52.216-1 TYPE OF CONTRACT (APR 1984)

52.216-18ORDERING (AUG 2020)

52.216-19 ORDER LIMITATIONS (OCT 1995)

52.216-22 INDEFINITE QUANTITY (OCT 1995)

52.216-27 SINGLE OR MULTIPLE AWARDS (OCT 1995)

52.217-8 OPTION TO EXTEND SERVICES (NOV 1999)

52.242-17 GOVERNMENT DELAY OF WORK (APR 1984)

52.246-4 INSPECTION OF SERVICES--FIXED-PRICE (AUG 1996)

52.252-1 SOLICITATION PROVISIONS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE (FEB 1998)

52.252-2 CLAUSES INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE (FEB 1998)

1352.201-70 CONTRACTING OFFICER?s AUTHORITY (APR 2010)

1352.201-72 CONTRACTING OFFICER`S REPRESENTATIVE (COR) (APR 2010)

1352.208-70 RESTRICTIONS ON PRINTING AND DUPLICATING (APR 2010)

1352.209-70 POTENTIAL ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST (APR 2010)

1352.209-74 ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST (APR 2010)

1352.209-73 COMPLIANCE WITH THE LAWS (APR 2010)

1352.215-72 INQUIRIES (APR 2010)

1352.216-75 MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM CONTRACT AMOUNTS (APR 2010)

1352.216-77 CEILING PRICE (APR 2010)

1352.233-70 AGENCY PROTESTS (APR 2010)

1352.233-71 GAO AND COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS PROTESTS (APR 2010)

1352.237-75 KEY PERSONNEL (APR 2010)

1352.237-71 SECURITY PROCESSING REQUIREMENTS - LOW RISK CONTRACTS (APR 2010)

1352.239-72 SECURITY REQUIREMENTS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES (APR 2010)

1352.270-70 PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE (APR 2010)

NIST LOCAL-04BILLING INSTRUCTIONS

NIST LOCAL-07COMPUTER SECURITY POLICY

NIST LOCAL-36TRAVEL NOTE

NIST LOCAL-55ELECTRONIC BILLING INSTRUCTIONS FOR DELIVERY/TASK ORDERS

PAGE 6 OF 59 1333ND21QNB770420

CLAUSES

Statement of Work - IDIQ

PAGE 7 OF 59 1333ND21QNB770420

IDIQ STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW)

Text Retrieval Conference (TREC), Text Retrieval Conference Video Retrieval Evaluation (TRECVID) and Text Analysis Conference (TAC) Contractor

Support Services

I. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Information Technology Laboratory's (ITL) Information Access Division's Retrieval Group works with industry, academia, and other government agencies to promote the use of more effective and efficient techniques for manipulating information not specifically structured for automatic use--especially the browsing, searching, and presentation of that information. Accurate evaluation of the capabilities of current information access systems is a prerequisite to improving the systems' capabilities. Human-created annotations are essential to the evaluation of information systems. Examples of these annotations include identification of documents that are relevant to a searcher's need, hand-written summaries of documents and sets of documents, and answers to questions. These annotations are fundamental to comparing the performance of automatic information systems, and to understanding differences within the range of performance that people achieve at the same tasks.

The evaluation of search systems is performed within a series of workshops known as The Text Retrieval Conference (TREC). TREC requires the building of reference material for use in evaluation. This reference material includes a set of test questions plus judgments on whether text extracts answer the questions.

The Text Retrieval Conference Video Retrieval Evaluation (TRECVID) extends this paradigm to the evaluation of systems that use multimedia queries to research large collections of digital videos.

For the Text Analysis Conference (TAC), researchers are developing natural language understanding systems that will help a person automatically summarize, extract or identify key facts, pieces of knowledge, sentiment, beliefs, and other information present in a document or a set of documents.

In an effort to fulfill ITL’s mission, NIST requires Contractor support to create judgments, view short video clips to determine if the clips contain the requested video material, to write summaries of Contractor selected documents, and to assess the summary content and the readability/linguistic quality of Contractor written summaries.

The TREC, TRECVID, and TAC conferences are held yearly at NIST at the conclusion of the tasks.

II. PURPOSE

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The purpose of this contract is to create the judgments, model summaries, model answers and short summaries, and other such annotations that are used to evaluate automatic natural language and video processing systems.

III. TYPE OF CONTRACT

The base contract will be an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) type Contract.

All task orders issued against the base IDIQ contract shall be firm- fixed price.

IV. SCOPE OF WORK

All work to be performed under the contract shall be within the parameters set forth herein and within the parameters set forth in each task order issued against the IDIQ contract. There may be more than one task occurring at the same time. Specific tasks will change as TREC, TRECVID and TAC evolve. Specific tasks will be defined in individual task orders.

The TREC, TRECVID, and TAC work to be performed under this contract shall include, but is not limited to the following:

• Creating initial topic statements;

• Creating refined topic statements and relevance assessments;

• Creating queries (a short sentence that identifies a video uniquely);

• Creating descriptions of videos;

• Making judgments of whether a given segment of video contains a given feature (e.g.

person; place, thing or event) or meets the information need specified in a topic (information request);

• Making annotations of the presence of entities or other linguistic structures in text;

• Creating usable topics with topic statements;

• Selecting newswire articles for each usable topic;

• Writing summaries for each usable topic and making assessments on the quality of the automatic and manual summaries;

• Reviewing topics, queries, descriptions, assessments, or annotations created within the task, for purposes of quality control

V. DELIVERABLES

The deliverables for individual task orders will be specified in the respective task order.

VI. INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE OF DELIVERABLES

The Contractor deliverables within each task order will be inspected by the Technical Point of Contact (TPOC) or Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) to determine their acceptability.

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Deliverables will be accepted if they meet the requirements set forth within each task order.

Specific performance standards and acceptance criteria for inspection and acceptance will be defined and included within each task order.

VII. PAYMENT SCHEDULE

A payment schedule will be included within each task order.

Tasks will not be paid by hour, but by deliverables completed. For that reason, each payment schedule shall be based on deliverables.

VIII. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

The reporting requirements for individual task orders will be specified in their respective task order.

IX. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance for the resultant IDIQ contract shall be for a period of 5 years.

The period of performance for each task order will be defined within each respective task order.

X. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

Work performed under the resultant IDIQ contract may require Contractor personnel to work on-site at the NIST Gaithersburg, MD campus and at the Contractor's/off-site facility or telework location(s). The place of performance will be specified in each individual task order.

The following shall apply to on-site work at the NIST Gaithersburg, MD campus:

Regular business hours are Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time with the exception of Federal holidays or other official closures. The Contractor shall not be allowed to work on-site at NIST outside of the aforementioned core hours unless specifically stated in the task order.

In the event of facility closures, Contractor personnel shall not perform on-site services unless otherwise approved by the Contracting Officer A listing of Federal holidays may be found at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/snow-dismissal- procedures/federal-holidays/

All Contractor personnel must comply with the NIST safety prevention regulations. Such regulations include, but are not limited to, general safety and fire prevention.

PAGE 10 OF 59 1333ND21QNB770420

Contractor personnel shall wear a visible visitor’s or security badge ID when working on-site at NIST. The badge will be provided by NIST. The Contractor shall immediately report any lost or stolen badges to the COR. Upon termination/resignation of the Contractor’s services under this contract, the badges and vehicle pass shall be relinquished to the COR.

Contractor personnel shall identify themselves as a “Contractor” in all e-mails, telephone communication, meetings, and conferences.

All Contractor personnel must register their vehicles in accordance with NIST Security requirements to gain access onto the NIST campus.

Contractor personnel shall not use Government facilities or Government property in connection with conducting activities not associated with requirements under a given task order.

At any time during the performance of this contract, any Contractor personnel whose actions (e.g. intoxication, debilitation resulting from drug use, insubordination, theft) result in clear disruption to the work force will be immediate removed by the Contracting Officer.

XI. GOVERNMENT-FURNISHED PROPERTY, DATA, AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INFORMATION

All property, data, and information provided by the Government in the performance of each task order remains the property of the Government and shall be surrendered to the Government upon completion or termination of each task order. Likewise, all deliverables generated under each task order remain the property of the Government.

As defined in the individual task orders, the Government will provide use of the necessary NIST facilities, office equipment, computer, phone, e-mail, and web access required for performance of each task order at the NIST campus. The Contractor is responsible for providing its own equipment for personnel that will not be working on-site at NIST.

Telephones, facsimile machines, copiers, and computer equipment are authorized for transaction of official Government business only and shall not be used for personal business.

Personal long-distance calls are not authorized. Telephones, facsimile machines, and computer equipment are subject to communications security monitoring at all times.

Space used by Contractor personnel in performance of any task order may be used for other purposes during the hours that the Contractor is not on-site. Clothing and personal items cannot be secured by the Government during the Contractor’s absence. The Government will not incur any liability for theft, damage to, or loss of the Contractor’s personal items.

For each applicable task order, Contractor personnel will be given a tutorial on how to use the computer system.

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XII. PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS SUMMARY

Specific tasks will change as TREC, TRECVID and TAC evolve. The Performance Requirements Summary for each task order will be defined in individual task orders, as applicable. However, the following is a sample of Performance Requirements Summaries for given task orders under this contract.

Task Desired Output Required Service Performance Standard

Monitoring Method

Creating topic statements

Developed and refined topics.

Create initial topic statements, explore the collection, select the final set of topics to be used in the experiments, and refine the topic statements.

Contractor personnel shall create XX-XX initial topic statements at a rate of X per hour. From the original set of topic statements, Contractor personnel shall create XX refined topic statements at a rate of X topic(s) per hour.

100% inspection by

TPOC/COR.

Topic relevance assessments

Completed relevance assessments.

For each topic created that was selected to be part of the final collection, the Contractor personnel will be provided a pool of topics which they shall assess as being relevant or not.

Contractor personnel shall judge documents for X-XX topics at a rate of X topic(s) per hour.

100% inspection by

TPOC/COR.

Homepage relevance assessments

Judged homepages.

For each topic created that was selected to be part of the final collection, the Contractor personnel will be provided a pool of pages which they shall assess as being relevant (or not) homepages for the topic.

Contractor personnel shall judge pools of homepages for each topic. Contractor personnel shall judge pools of homepages at a rate of X topic(s) per hour.

100% inspection by

TPOC/COR.

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Creating known-item queries for video search systems

Created known-item queries.

Contractor personnel shall create video queries.

Contractor personnel shall create video queries at a rate of X queries per hour.

100% inspection by

TPOC/COR.

Assessment of videos

Judged video clips. Contractor personnel shall view and assess video clips.

Contractor personnel shall view and assess XX short video clips per hour on average.

100% inspection by

TPOC/COR.

Descriptions of videos

Short text descriptions.

Contractor personnel shall view video clips and compose a short description of each.

Contractor personnel shall view and describe XX short video clips per hour on average.

100% inspection by TPOC/COR.

Entity annotations

Annotations of entities or other linguistic expressions.

Contractor personnel shall read the document and annotate each mention of an entity.

Contractor personnel shall view and annotate XX documents per hour on average.

100% inspection by TPOC/COR.

Developing topics for summarization

Develop useable topics and selected chronologically ordered sets of newswire articles for each topic.

Contractor personnel shall develop useable topics and select chronologically ordered sets of newswire articles for each topic, where each set contains X relevant articles for the topic.

Contractor personnel shall develop X useable topics at an average rate of X usable topic(s) per hour. Contractor personnel shall select X chronologically ordered sets of newswire articles for each topic, where each set contains XX relevant articles for the topic.

100% inspection by

TPOC/COR.

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Creating hand-written summaries

Hand-written 100-word summaries for each topic that that satisfies the information need expressed in the topic statement.

Contractor personnel shall write X XXX-word summaries for each topic that satisfies the information need expressed in the corresponding topic statement or list of required aspects.

Contractor personnel shall write X XX-word summaries for each topic that satisfies the information need expressed in the topic statement or list of required aspects.

Contractor personnel shall write summaries at an average rate of X topic(s) per hour.

100% inspection by

TPOC/COR.

Assessment of the quality of automatic and manual summaries

Assessment of the quality of the automatic and manual summaries.

Contractor personnel shall assess the quality of the automatic and manual summaries.

Contractor personnel shall assess the quality of the automatic and manual summaries at a rate of XX topic(s) per hour.

100% inspection by

TPOC/COR.

Review of annotations

Review of the quality of annotations of entities or other linguistic expressions.

Contractor shall review the annotations and correct any errors found.

Contractor personnel shall review annotations in documents at the rate of XX documents per hour.

100% inspection by TPOC/COR.

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XIII. RISK ASSESSMENT

The Contractor personnel shall have access to the DOC/NIST local area network and basic office applications. All work to be performed under this contract is considered to be IT Low Risk.

XIV. SECTION 508 ACCESSIBILITY

All work-performed shall be in accordance with the following. All Electronic and Information Technology (EIT), as defined by Federal Acquisition Regulation 2.101 (FAR 2.101), supplied under this Project Order and all subsequent project orders, must conform to the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards (36 CFR Part 1194).

The applicable standards are available at https://www.access-board.gov/ict/ . Please also reference CAR clause 1352.239-71.

The following standards have been determined to be applicable to the work under this contract:

1194.21 - Software applications and operating systems

1194.22 - Web-based intranet and internet information and applications

1194.31 - Functional performance criteria

1194.41 – Information, documentation and support

XV. CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL REQUIREMENTS

The Contractor shall be responsible for employing technically qualified personnel to perform the work specified in this SOW. The Contractor shall maintain the personnel, organization, and administrative control necessary to ensure that the work delivered meets task order requirements. Personnel assigned to, or utilized by, the Contractor in performance of work shall be fully capable of performing the contemplated functions of the respective labor categories in an efficient, reliable, and professional manner.

Individual task orders issued under the IDIQ contract may contain contractor key personnel requirements. The contractor’s personnel under a given task order shall fall within the labor categories proposed and agreed upon by the contractor and Government, incorporated into the IDIQ contract.

All Contractor personnel working under task orders issued under this IDIQ contract shall have experience in intelligence analysis. This experience shall include work for the intelligence community such as the Department of Defense, National Security Administration, Central

PAGE 15 OF 59 1333ND21QNB770420

Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency and others gathering intelligence by examining large amounts of data from various sources. Each Contractor personnel shall have experience using a web based graphical user interface.

As identified below, the Contractor shall assign a Supervisor/Program Manager as key personnel at the base IDIQ contract level for managing all tasks issued under the IDIQ contract.

The Contractor’s Supervisor/Program Manager may or may not be one of the key personnel performing the tasks identified in task orders issued under the IDIQ contract. The Supervisor/Program Manager shall be responsible for managing the work across all task orders.

The Supervisor/Program Manager will be designated as key personnel at the base IDIQ contract level.

Base IDIQ Contract Key Personnel:

At the IDIQ contract level, the contractor shall identify and provide a key personnel candidate for the following position. The key personnel will be identified in the resultant IDIQ contract and shall be subject to the terms and conditions of clause 1352.237-75 Key Personnel. The following position is the ONLY contractor key personnel position required at the base IDIQ contract level:

1. Supervisor / Program Manager – [Key Personnel on IDIQ base contract]

Description of Duties: Responsible for managing the work across all task orders issued under the IDIQ contract.

Minimum Qualifications: All Contractor personnel working under task orders issued under this IDIQ contract shall have experience in intelligence analysis. This experience shall include work for the intelligence community such as the Department of Defense, National Security Administration, Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency and others gathering intelligence by examining large amounts of data from various sources. Each Contractor personnel shall have experience using a web based graphical user interface.

Required IDIQ Labor Categories:

The following labor categories are categories that must be made available under the base IDIQ contract, at a minimum.

RFQ Provisional Language: Per the Instructions to Offerors section of the RFQ, offerors must propose the following labor categories, for the base IDIQ contract (using, at minimum, the description of duties and minimum qualifications shown below for each labor category) in their Technical Volume, and propose ceiling fully burdened hourly labor rates for each labor category

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for each year of the IDIQ contract in their Business Volume. Offerors must propose a “Schedule of IDIQ Labor Categories,” complete with a description of duties and minimum qualifications, that includes the following labor categories in their Technical Volume.

Note that the “Supervisor/Program Manager” is the only position listed below that also requires an actual candidate to be proposed as key personnel for the IDIQ contract itself. The Government is NOT requesting that Offerors propose actual candidates for the remaining IDIQ labor categories for the IDIQ contract itself. See Instructions to Offerors section of the RFQ for requirements for proposing actual candidates for key personnel positions for each Task Order included in the RFQ.

Supervisor / Program Manager

Description of Duties: Responsible for managing the work across all task orders issued under the IDIQ contract.

Minimum Qualifications: All Contractor personnel working under task orders issued under this IDIQ contract shall have experience in intelligence analysis. This experience shall include work for the intelligence community such as the Department of Defense, National Security Administration, Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency and others gathering intelligence by examining large amounts of data from various sources. Each Contractor personnel shall have experience using a web based graphical user interface.

Assessor

Level I:

Description of Duties: Responsible for performing IR research support as described in individual task orders.

Minimum Qualifications: All Contractor personnel working under task orders issued under this IDIQ contract shall have experience in intelligence analysis. This experience shall include work for the intelligence community such as the Department of Defense, National Security Administration, Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency and others gathering intelligence by examining large amounts of data from various sources. Each Contractor personnel shall have experience using a web based graphical user interface.

Level II:

Description of Duties: Responsible for performing IR research support as described in individual task orders, and assistance to new Assessors.

Minimum Qualifications: All Contractor personnel working under task orders issued under this IDIQ contract shall have experience in intelligence analysis. This experience shall include work

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for the intelligence community such as the Department of Defense, National Security Administration, Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency and others gathering intelligence by examining large amounts of data from various sources. Each Contractor personnel shall have experience using a web based graphical user interface.

XVI. NIST VISITOR AND CONTRACTOR PROTOCOLS FOR MITIGATING COVID-19 EXPOSURE

The Contractor shall review and adhere to the requirements of Attachment I titled NIST Visitor and Contractor Protocols for Mitigating COVID-19 Exposure on NIST Campuses. Contractor personnel performing work in NIST workspaces, must provide all information required by Attachment I, in advance of and throughout the period of performance of the purchase order.

While working on the NIST campus, the Contracting Officer's Representative and/or Technical Point of Contact will ensure that Contractor personnel comply with the requirements in place to mitigate COVID-19 exposure.

The Government reserves the right to require that Contractor personnel attend a 1-2-hour training session dedicated to COVID-19 protocols.

Attachment I titled NIST Visitor and Contractor Protocols for Mitigating COVID-19 Exposure on NIST Campuses, is hereby incorporated and made a part of the contract. This document is subject to change and must be monitored by the Contractor via the following NIST websites:

https://www.nist.gov and/or https://www.nist.gov/about-nist/visit/nist-visitor-andcontractorprotocolsmitigating-covid-19-exposurenist-campuses

Instructions to Offerors

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INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS (FAR 52.212-1 ADDENDUM)

OVERALL ARRANGEMENT OF QUOTATIONS

Quotations shall be submitted electronically, via email to:

Contracting Officer: Keith Bubar, Keith.Bubar@nist.gov Contract Specialist: January Magyar, January.Magyar@nist.gov

(a) By submission of an electronic Quotation, the offeror must ensure that the submission is readable, in the format specified in the solicitation, and has been verified as free of computer viruses. Prior to any evaluation, the Government will check all files for viruses and ensure that all information is readable. In the event that any files are defective (unreadable), the Government will only evaluate the readable electronic files. Further, if a defective (unreadable) email/attachment renders a significant deficiency in the offeror's Quotation, the Government may consider the Quotation incomplete and not consider such Quotations for further evaluation.

(b) The offeror must ensure that:

(1) It has verified that its electronic Quotation is readable on the hardware and software

(2) It has verified that the electronic Quotations are free of computer viruses using standard commercial anti‐virus software.

(c) A Quotation that fails to conform to the requirements of paragraphs (a) and (b) above may be subject to interception or delay at Governmental electronic communications portals.

This interception or delay may result in the Quotation being lost, deleted, destroyed, or forwarded in such a manner that the Quotation arrives at the target destination past the time and date of the deadline for submission established in the solicitation. In the event that a Quotation is lost, deleted, or destroyed due to the offeror's failure to conform to the requirements of paragraphs (a) and (b) above, such Quotation will be considered to have never been delivered to the Government.

Submission Due Dates. Offers must be received electronically at the addresses given above prior to 12:00 pm EST, August 27, 2021. The offeror shall adhere to the following instructions in preparing its Quotation in response to this solicitation. The Quotation shall fully comply with all requirements. FAILURE TO DO SO MAY BE CAUSE FOR REJECTION.

All Quotations shall conform to solicitation provisions/clauses and be prepared in accordance with this section. The Quotation shall be clearly and concisely written as well as be neat, indexed (cross-indexed as appropriate) and logically assembled. Note: The term “indexed” refers to a table of contents that lists sections and page numbers. In the event that the Offeror is unable to create an indexed Quotation, an alternative approach such as a Table of Contents

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shall suffice. All pages of the Quotation shall be appropriately numbered. Page limits are provided below for the different sections as appropriate. In all sections of the Offeror’s Quotation, the Offeror must use a font size of no smaller than 11-point and must use margins of no smaller than 1 inch on top/bottom/left/right. The Offeror may use a font size no smaller than 8-point font for tables and graphics.

The Technical Quotation shall be written to the greatest extent possible on a stand‐alone basis so that its content may be evaluated with a minimum of cross‐referencing to other documents in the Quotation. Cross‐referencing within a Quotation volume is permitted where its use would conserve space without impairing clarity. Information required for Quotation evaluation, which is not found in its designated volume or cross‐ referenced, is assumed omitted from the Quotation.

There shall be no pricing information or labor rates included in the Non-Price/Technical Volume I.

Volume I shall include the responses to Technical Capability & Management Approach, Task Order, and Past Performance. The Offeror’s Quotation shall be clearly divided into the following distinct sections. Volume II shall include the Offeror’s proposed Business Volume, or pricing volume. The below table shows the page limits to which Offerors’ submissions must adhere.

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Volume Section Page limit

I

Base IDIQ Executive Summary

1) Technical Capability & Management Approach

2) Task Order Response

3) Past Performance (20 Pages)

II 1) Business/Pricing Quotation N/A

Note: The Quotation cover page, executive summary, definitions for acronyms page, Table of Contents, resumes, Schedule of Labor Categories, and completed Past Performance Questionnaires (or CPARS Assessments) will not count towards the page limits listed above for Volume I. Resumes shall be provided as an attachment to Volume I, and each resume shall be limited to three (3) pages in length. Completed Past Performance Questionnaires shall also be provided as an attachment to Volume I.

VOLUME I: NON-PRICE VOLUME

Volume I of an Offeror’s Quotation shall consist of the following sections:

1) Technical Capability & Management Approach: The Offeror shall demonstrate its understanding of the requirements of the base IDIQ SOW and demonstrate the Offeror’s expertise and ability to perform all of the IDIQ SOW requirements.

Additionally, the Offeror’s management approach shall demonstrate the Offeror’s approach to managing the IDIQ contract and all task orders issued under the contract.

At a minimum the management approach shall address the following:

a. Contract Management Plan: The Offeror shall discuss its plan for successfully managing the quality, cost, and timely completion of each task order and to ensure successful performance of all SOW services as described herein. This discussion shall consist of the following focus areas:

a.i. Supervisor / Program Manager Key Personnel Qualifications: The Offeror shall provide the resume for and demonstrate the qualifications (i.e. education, experience, accomplishments, and skills) of the Offeror’s proposed Supervisor/Program Manager – specifically addressing his/her experience in managing multi-task contracts similar to the requirement described herein in terms of technical and contractual complexity and magnitude. The Offeror shall clearly demonstrate that the proposed Supervisor/Program Manager key personnel candidate meets or exceeds the minimum qualifications identified within the IDIQ SOW for this

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position. Reminder: The Supervisor/Program Manager is the only key personnel position at the base IDIQ contract level.

a.ii. Schedule of IDIQ Labor Categories: The Offeror shall provide its proposed Schedule of Labor Categories for the base IDIQ contract. The schedule must include the list of required IDIQ labor categories from the IDIQ SOW, complying with the titles, educational and experience requirements identified in the IDIQ SOW. The Offeror may also propose additional labor categories but must at minimum include the required labor categories as described in the IDIQ SOW. Offerors shall not include their proposed labor rates for these labor categories in the Technical Volume. NOTE: The proposed Schedule of IDIQ Labor Categories should NOT be a list of actual proposed candidates (people) for the labor categories. This schedule shall simply be the schedule of labor categories being proposed as available for use under the IDIQ contract throughout the contract’s period of performance, including the titles, educational and experience requirements for each labor category. Aside from the IDIQ Supervisor/Program Manager being proposed under section (a)(ii) above under this evaluation factor, actual candidates for key and non-key personnel positions or labor categories shall only be proposed under Factor B- Task Order Response. The Government is NOT requesting the actual names of candidates in this Schedule of Labor Categories.

b. Recruitment and Retention Plan: The Offeror shall describe the corporate mechanisms applicable to all contractor employees (practices, policies, procedures, and tools) that will be employed by the Offeror to recruit, retain, and replenish (when necessary) a sufficient number of qualified personnel with the requisite knowledge, skills, education, and experience to ensure successful accomplishment of the proposed technical and management approaches throughout the life of the contract, and to ensure a reasonably low turnover rate. At a minimum, the plan shall address recruitment and hiring practices, termination policies and procedures, employee development tools, and compensation policies that would serve to obtain and maintain the personnel resources necessary to successfully perform this requirement.

2) Task Order Response: Offerors shall provide a technical quotation for the Task Order SOW included in the RFQ. The offeror’s Task Order response shall include the following:

a. Technical Approach: The Offeror shall include its technical approach for completing the requirements of the task order SOW. The technical approach shall demonstrate that the Offeror understands the requirements of the task order SOW and demonstrate the Offeror’s expertise and ability to perform the task order SOW requirements. The Offeror shall include a breakdown of its

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proposed labor mix for the task order, including the proposed level of effort by labor category for each task within the Mock Task Order SOW. However, there shall be no pricing information or labor rates included in the Non-Price/Technical Volume I.

b. Staffing Plan: At a minimum, the Staffing Plan shall address the following:

Resumes of individuals proposed as key personnel and non-key personnel. The resumes shall include the names, titles, and a description of the duties for the respective individual. The offeror’s quotation must demonstrate that all personnel proposed to perform under this task order, including key and non-key personnel, meet the minimum contractor qualifications as listed in the task order SOW. Therefore, resumes shall be provided for the proposed Supervisor/Program Manager and for the proposed non-key personnel (Assessors). Note that candidates proposed as key and non-key personnel are expected to be available for performance under the Mock Task Order, as the Government reserves the right to convert the Mock Task Order into a real, funded task order.

3) Past Performance: Offerors shall submit past performance information in the form of completed Past Performance Questionnaires. The term “offeror,” as used here refers to the prime contractor and any of its proposed subcontractors. The attachment to the RFQ titled “Past Performance Questionnaire Template” shall be used, or Offerors may submit official CPARS assessments in place of the questionnaire. Offerors shall have their references complete the questionnaire for previous individual contracts of similar size and scope to this requirement, completed or substantially completed within the last five years. The Offeror shall then submit the questionnaires (completed and signed by their references) as attachments to the quotation. The Offeror’s references shall not submit completed questionnaires directly to the government. The Offeror must submit the questionnaires completed by their references, as attachments to the quotation.

However, Offerors may submit official CPARS assessments in place of the Past Performance Questionnaire format.

It is recommended that Offerors provide at least 3 to 5 Past Performance Questionnaires for services similar in size and scope to those of this requirement, for work completed or substantially completed within the last five (5) years. If the Offeror performed as a subcontractor under a given previous effort, the Offeror should also clearly indicate the approximate percentage of work that the Offeror performed under each task/category of effort throughout the course of the contract.

VOLUME II – BUSINESS VOLUME

The Offeror shall submit the following as part of Volume II:

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1) Standard Form (SF) 1449

a. The SF1449 must be executed fully (e.g. signed and dated) and used as the cover sheet (or first page) of Volume II. The Offeror shall include one (1) original signed copy of the SF1449. All Amendments to the solicitation must be acknowledged on Page 1 of the signed SF1449 or on additional pages immediately following the signed SF1449, if necessary.

b. The Offeror shall further provide its affirmation that its proposed pricing shall remain valid for at least 180 days from the date of Quotation submission.

2) Base Contract Pricing: The Offeror shall propose ceiling, fully burdened hourly labor rates for each of the required labor categories identified in the IDIQ SOW and proposed within the Offeror’s Technical Volume, and for any additional labor categories proposed, for each year of the anticipated 5-year IDIQ contract. Any labor categories proposed in the Offeror’s Schedule of IDIQ Labor Categories from the Technical Volume must have ceiling fully burdened hourly labor rates proposed for them in the Business Volume. The Offeror shall specifically propose labor rates for each of the IDIQ contract years.

Offerors must provide their proposed Base Contract Pricing in the form of a MS Excel spreadsheet, to be submitted as an attachment to the Offeror’s Volume II of the Quotation. Offerors must use the format provided in Attachment 2 (Pricing Worksheet) to the RFQ to submit their proposed fully burdened hourly labor rates. While the MS Excel spreadsheet submitted by the Offeror will serve as the official listing of its proposed labor rates, Offerors may also provide backup information in Volume II of the Quotation, providing further information on how the proposed rates were developed or other information to help demonstrate that the proposed rates are fair, reasonable, and demonstrate the best pricing available from the Offeror.

The Offeror shall assume for Quotation preparation purposes that any resultant IDIQ contract will commence, tentatively, on October 1, 2021. The following dates are not binding – the actual Period of Performance of the 5-year contract may be different than listed below:

October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2026

Offerors must propose labor categories that match the Description of Duties and Minimum Qualifications detailed in the IDIQ SOW. However, since Offerors are required to provide these full descriptions for each of its proposed labor categories in Volume I – Non-Price Volume – Offerors do not need to provide the descriptions and minimum qualifications again in Volume II – Business Volume. See Attachment 2 to the RFQ for the specific MS Excel format Offerors shall use to submit their Base Contract Pricing.

3) Task Order Pricing: The Offeror shall provide a firm-fixed price Quotation for the Task Order SOW included in the RFQ. The Quotation shall include sufficient documentation that clearly demonstrates how the proposed firm-fixed price for the Mock Task Order

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was calculated. The Offeror shall specifically show which labor categories, associated fully burdened hourly labor-rates, and number of hours were used in determining the proposed firm-fixed price. Additionally, the Offeror shall break down its proposed pricing for the Mock Task Order by each task delineated in the Mock Task Order SOW.

Offerors must provide their proposed Mock Order Pricing in the form of a MS Excel spreadsheet, to be submitted as an attachment to the Offeror’s Volume II of the Quotation. Offerors shall use the format provided in Attachment 2 to the RFQ.

However, additional supporting information may be provided in the Offeror’s Volume II of the Quotation.

Finally, Offerors shall propose a firm fixed price Payment Schedule for the Mock Task Order with payments tied to the acceptance of deliverables. The Payment Schedule shall clearly identify the proposed payments and what deliverable(s) each are tied to.

Proposed Payment Schedules for the Mock Task Order Quotation shall be included within the Business Volume II and there is no required format provided by the Government.

Note: Pricing for the Mock Task Order shall remain valid for the first 12 months of the IDIQ contract.

Evaluation Factors

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EVALUATION FACTORS (FAR 52.212-2 ADDENDUM)

The Government intends to award a single Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) type contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible Offeror whose offer, conforming to the solicitation, will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered.

The Government reserves the right to make an award to other than the lowest-priced Offeror or to the Offeror(s) with the highest technical rating if the Contracting Officer determines that to do so would result in the best value to the Government. The Contracting Officer intends to award without discussions but reserves the right to initiate discussions if necessary.

Upon receipt of Quotations, the Contracting Officer will review them to determine if each Offeror followed all of the Quotation preparation/submission instructions in this solicitation. A Quotation that did not follow the Quotation submission instructions to an extent that the Government cannot properly evaluate the Quotation in accordance with the stated evaluation factors may be deemed unacceptable and may not be further evaluated.

The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers:

FACTOR A – TECHNICAL CAPABILITY & MANAGEMENT APPROACH

FACTOR B – TASK ORDER

FACTOR C – PAST PERFORMANCE

FACTOR D – PRICE

In determining best value, non-price factors A through C, when combined, shall be more important than price.

Factors A and B are…