2021 BID Announcement_6.11.2021.pdf

Announcement No. 75A50121R00042

DESCRIPTION

The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), an Operational Division (OpDiv) within the office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) located in Washington, D.C. is soliciting virtual conferencing services in support of the November 3-4, 2021 BARDA Industry Day (BID).

BARDA has a mission to make available medical countermeasures (MCM) that address the medical consequences of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) accidents and attacks, pandemic influenza, and emerging infectious diseases. It is a leading agency having awarded over $6B in COVID- 19 MCM contracts and directly supporting the U.S. Governments Covid-19 response to the pandemic.

In support of this mission, BARDA sponsors BID exchange with the bio-pharma industry and partners -an annual opportunity to share information, disseminate program updates, and actively engage with stakeholders portfolio-wide in a concentrated multi-day meeting, consistent with the Congressional intent under the PAHPA and PAHPRA legislation. This year, BARDA will focus its messaging on innovation in MCM, the future of Heath Science, and ongoing programs and collaboration, during a two-day 100% virtual event on November 3-4, 2021.

This announcement constitutes a pre-solicitation synopsis/announcement for commercial services. This is NOT a Request for Proposal. The anticipated solicitation is expected to be issued on or about June 22, 2021.

The solicitation will be issued as a Request for Proposal (RFP) and resulting award will be as a firm fixed-price contract using FAR Subpart 13 Simplified Acquisition Procedures. The NAICS code for this procurement is 561920 Event and Meeting Planning Services, with a size standard of $12M.

Notwithstanding the Government’s desire to award to small business, due to market research, past acquisitions, and the scope of the services sought, this solicitation is open to both small and large businesses.

PRIMARY SERVICES:

BARDA seeks proposals meeting following Virtual Meeting Services Requirements:

1. Propose Virtual Event Strategy best suited for a live meeting with multiple breakouts of size indicated (combo of live meetings broadcast virtually from various locations, pre-recorded sessions and live on site Q&A responses, and possibly multiple speakers within same meeting broadcast)

2. Propose and oversee best technology platform to accommodate meeting needs – ensuring quality of technology for optimal viewing and appropriate formatting as needed. Attached is the BID agenda for 2020) to be used as a reference.

3. Meeting Landing Page: Create and serve as host and provide quality content oversight for the meeting landing page. Create custom professional backdrop for meeting with agenda, participant directory and logo highlighted throughout.

4. Liaise with meeting manager to create an online virtual meeting schedule.

5. Coordinate with planner on agenda and program changes, scheduling and to liaise with speakers as needed to assist with technology for their live and pre-recorded sessions.

6. Develop platform based attendee registration and coordinate with planner and IT to receive registration data and provide reporting.

7. Help to develop appropriate communications regarding virtual meeting schedule (as needed)

8. Provide qualified show producer and staff for duration of Virtual Meeting to oversee entire meeting and ensure quality control

9. Secure content with password protection and ensure data cannot be accessed by outside sources

10. Provide between 150-200 live interactive sessions throughout two-day conference

11. Provide viewing for as many number of viewers as needed for each session without extra cost

12. Set up Live Round table discussions as needed.

13. Produce and post pre-recorded sessions as requested.

14. Archive sessions for future access and provide on hard drive after the meeting.

15. Pre and post conference meetings regarding execution

16. Post conference summary reports and budget reconciliation

17. Other services as required to meet client’s specific virtual planning needs.

18. Location(s): Online

19. Other Requirement(s): Production team to be available to start work on July 15, 2021 and available through the November meeting date.

AWARD CONSIDERATIONS:

The Government may elect to award the contracts covering an anticipated period of performance October 25, 2021 through November 07, 2021. The Government’s preference will be an award to small business, however, each responsible offeror shall be provided a fair opportunity to be considered for the award. The Government will use such factors as relevant experience, successful past performance, quality of deliverables, or other factors in accordance with the stipulated Evaluation Factors. The resulting award will be awarded as a firm-fixed price contract.

Availability of Funds: This solicitation is being issued with the full intent of the Government to execute an award, however, an award is subject to the availability of funds in accordance with FAR clauses 52.232-18 and 52.232-19.

All current COVID-19 restrictions will apply to the intended award.

NOTE: In order to be eligible for a federal award, all Contractors shall be register and maintain registration with the Federal System for Awards Management (SAM), www.sam.gov.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

Proposal Deadline and Proposal Delivery Address

Submission Due Date: NLT Wednesday, July 07, 2021, 4:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time Proposals shall be emailed to: john.warner@hhs.gov

Submission of Offers: Offeror may only submit an electronic quotation reflecting the same pricing information for the required items as indicated in the Price Schedule, Appendix A of the forthcoming Statement of Work. Proposals shall be comprised of two sections:

Section I – Technical Proposal shall address technical factors listed in the solicitation. Submissions are limited to three (3) double-sided pages.

Section II – Price Proposal shall consist of the Price Schedule and relevant business information/terms as appropriate. Commercial video conferencing services under the anticipated RFP will be subject to Service Contract Act Wage Determination 2015-4281 as revised.

Pricing information shall be represented in a Price Schedule reflecting separate lump sum amounts for the task. Failure to provide pricing for all Proposal Items may disqualify an offer from consideration.

No post-award additional fees, deposits, charges, or other costs shall be permitted.

Offeror’s may format their proposal pricing using their own proprietary system. This may be automated or manually generated, however, the final submittal shall be consistent with the document format constraints indicated in the above Submission of Offers Section.

PROPOSAL CONTENT:

Proposals must address the following areas:

1. Contractor Capability. The quote shall include a brief narrative clearly indicating the Offeror has the resources in terms as described in the below evaluation factors as necessary for the performance of the requirement identified in the SOW.

2. Contractor Experience. The proposal shall provide references and relevant performance in providing commercial Virtual Meeting services in terms as described in the below evaluation factors.

3. Technical Expertise – the proposal shall provide experience pertaining to technical expertise in terms as described in the below evaluation factors.

4. Past Performance Information - Contractors shall submit a list of past contracts completed in terms as described in the below evaluation factors

Responses must be very specific in addressing how the respondent clearly meets each of the evaluation criteria, and in sufficient detail to distinguish it from other offers. Sufficient detail includes addressing the requirements stated in the SOW. General/non-specific information such as generic advertising brochures is not sufficient to determine technical superiority and will not be considered in determining technical acceptability. The Government will not make assumptions regarding technical capability; the information must be provided clearly and concisely in order to be considered Technically Acceptable.

Significant request for clarifications may necessitate a solicitation amendment listing Questions and Answers.

EVALUATION

Evaluation will be conducted in accordance with FAR Provision 52.212-2 Evaluation-Commercial Items.

This is a competitive best-value source selection in which competing offerors' technical proposals will be evaluated by three stipulated sub-factors (Capability, Experience, and Technical Expertise) on an Acceptable/Unacceptable basis. All technically acceptable proposals will be evaluated. Proposals with technical aspects missing or deemed “Unacceptable” will be removed from further consideration.

The technical aspect of a proposal will be approximately equal to cost or price considerations in importance. The intended award will be made to the proposal offering the best value to the Government providing the lowest price, and a combination of technically acceptable rated aspects with past performance both indicating a very high probability the contractor will be able to successfully complete the contract rendering a “High Confidence” rated performance confidence assessment.

By submission of its offer, the offeror accedes to all solicitation requirements, including terms and conditions, representations and certifications, and technical requirements, in addition to those identified as evaluation factors or sub-factors. Failure to meet a requirement may result in an offer being determined technically unacceptable. Offerors must clearly identify any exception to the solicitation terms and conditions and provide complete accompanying rationale.

The evaluation process will proceed as follows:

A. Technical Evaluation Panel (TEP) composed of Government technical personnel appointed by the Contracting Officer will evaluate all responsible proposals. The TEP will be conducted under confidentiality protocols. Evaluations will be based on the factors described herein.

B. Price Evaluation. The government will stack rank all acceptable offers by total price from lowest to highest.

C. Technical: The proposals will be evaluated, starting with the lowest priced offer, against the following sub-factors:

1. Contractor capability -- the ability to meet all requirements identified in the SOW. The Offerors resources in terms of financial capability, materials, equipment, tools, software, supervision for the performance of this requirement will be evaluated.

2. Contractor Experience – The contractor’s experience with relevant tasks performed within the last three (3) years and similar in size and scope to this requirement will be evaluated. Relevant performance includes providing virtual meeting services will be evaluated.

3. Technical Expertise – Experience and qualifications of Key Personnel, and any additional information pertaining to technical expertise as it relates to the performance of this requirement will be evaluated.

KEY PERSONNEL Submitted in accordance with Evaluation Criteria at a minimum:

a. Project Manager/Event Coordinator –shall possess a minimum of 3 years of experience in all areas of commercial virtual event production and management. The contractor shall provide evidence of proven ability to perform virtual event management services, coordinate activities of employees and any sub-contractors to ensure sufficient operation, direct workers and meets all pertinent labor laws, manage project in accordance with contract budget without cost overruns, requisition and purchase supplies, equipment, rentals as necessary, ensures all set up and testing is performed in advance of event, process all submittals and contract close-out documentation as required.

b. Social Media Lead - shall possess a minimum of 3 years of experience in all areas of commercial social media and related data management. The contractor shall provide evidence of proven ability to plan for and establish social media advertising and virtual event attendee interaction and data collaboration services, identify and establish specific platforms and applications identified by the customer or as required by the contractor’s proposal, coordinate with Government event MCs, manage social media and related polling, Q&A and related data services in accordance with contract budget without cost overruns, requisition and purchase application software, event accounts, and user access as necessary, process all data management reports and contract close-out documentation as required.

c. Principal IT Manager – shall possess a minimum of 3 years of experience in all areas of virtual event platform, live session streams and integration with social media applications, provide technical expertise and recommendations to Project Manage and Government Customer, provides active monitoring of each session, chat, video stream, virtual meeting room, and other venues as required by the contract, ensures all set up and testing is performed in advance of event.

d. Technical Producer - shall possess a minimum of 3 years of experience in all areas of commercial virtual event audio and video equipment and data management integration, ensures event presenters understand equipment and applications and are familiar with employment for the specific event, directs camera placement, lighting, and optimum audio set up, ensures required recordings are created as needed by customer, performs sound and visual checks before go-live, to ensure seamless, professionally produced media, and transitions during event activities.

4. Past Performance Information – Contractors shall submit a list of at least three (3) contracts completed in the last three (3) years that are similar in nature to this requirement. The contracts may include those entered into with Federal, State, and local governments, and commercial businesses which are of similar scope, magnitude, relevance, and complexity to the requirement. Include the following information for each contract listed:

a. Client name and contact number

b. Contract Number

c. Contract Title

d. Contract Type

e. Brief description of contract and relevance to this requirement

f. Total Estimated Contract Value

g. Period of Performance

h. Name of Client Authorized Contracting Official/Authorized Client Representative, Phone

Number, and electronic mail address

i. List of Subcontractors (if applicable)

The Government will assess the offeror’s past performance on submitted projects by comparing the projects to this project and determining how well the contractor has performed on those contracts.

Documented results from other past performance questionnaires, PIPRS, FAPIIS and other sources may also be used as the basis for the assessment. Past Performance that is considered relevant and of higher quality may be rated more favorably.

D. Performance Confidence Assessment

From the remaining pool of “Technically Acceptable” proposals, the Government will combine this assessment with an evaluation of the offerors past performance to create a performance confidence assessment. The purpose of the performance confidence assessment is to allow the government to assess the offerors ability to perform the effort described in this Solicitation based on the offerors technical approach, experience and demonstrated present and past performance. The assessment process will result in an overall performance confidence assessment of High Confidence, Significant Confidence, Satisfactory Confidence, Limited Confidence, No Confidence, or Unknown Confidence, as defined in Table 1 below. Past performance regarding predecessor companies, key personnel who have relevant experience, or sub-contractors that will perform major or critical aspects of the requirement will be rated as highly as past performance information for the principal offeror. Offerors with no relevant past or present performance history shall receive the rating "Unknown Confidence," meaning the rating is treated neither favorably nor unfavorably.

TABLE 1. PERFORMANCE CONFIDENCE ASSESSMENTS

High Confidence

Offeror’s performance record is outstanding and indicates a very high probability the contractor will be able to successfully complete the contract.

Significant Confidence

Offeror’s performance record is superior and indicates a high probability the contractor will be able to successfully complete the contract.

Satisfactory Confidence

Offeror’s performance record is good and indicates a moderate probability the contractor will be able to successfully complete the contract.

Limited Confidence

Offeror’s performance record provides extreme doubt that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort.

No Confidence

The Offeror has not demonstrated any qualifications or the qualifications demonstrated result in a confidence level that is unacceptable. The risk of failure is too great for contract award.

Unknown Confidence

Offeror’s performance record is treated neither favorably nor unfavorably. However, this does not mean that the offeror cannot be rated lower than an offeror that has some favorable and some unfavorable performance records or an offeror with superior performance records.

Upon assigning a confidence assessment for each of the technically acceptable proposals, a final source selection recommendation will be made evaluating from the lowest to the highest priced proposals. The TEP will present their award recommendation to the Source Selection Authority (SSA) who will be the Contracting Officer. Based on the TEP recommendation, the SSA will make the final award determination. This decision will be made selecting the proposal providing the combination of lowest price, with technically acceptable and past performance rated aspects that have been assigned a “High Confidence” rated performance confidence assessment.

If the lowest priced, technically acceptable offeror is not judged to have a High Confidence performance confidence assessment, the next lowest priced offeror will be evaluated and the process will continue (in order by price) until an offeror is judged to have the combined Lowest Price, Technically Acceptable and High Confidence performance assessment or until all offerors are evaluated. All technically acceptable proposals will be evaluated. The Contracting Officer shall then make an integrated assessment best value award decision.

Offerors may be asked to clarify certain aspects of their proposal (for example, the relevance of past performance information) or respond to adverse past performance information to which the offeror has not previously had an opportunity to respond. Adverse past performance is defined as past performance information that supports a less than satisfactory rating on any evaluation element or any unfavorable comments received from sources without a formal rating system. Communication conducted to resolve minor or clerical errors would not constitute discussions and the contracting officer reserves the right to award a contract without the opportunity for proposal revision.

The government intends to award a contract without discussions with respective offerors. The government, however, reserves the right to conduct discussions if deemed in its best interest.

The Government anticipates adequate competition for this requirement.

The Federal Acquisition Regulation website is https://acquisition.gov/far/index.html.

This is NOT a Request for Proposal.

End of Announcement