08BMD0010 Sec L update.DOC

U.S. General Services Administration IUID Data Labels PWS

ITSS Solicitation # 5TS57070224

Contract GS05T08BMD0010

Section L Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors

L.1 52.252-1 Solicitation Provisions Incorporated by Reference (FEB 1998) This solicitation incorporates one or more solicitation provisions by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer (CO) will make their full text available. The offeror is cautioned that the listed provisions may include blocks that must be completed by the offeror and submitted with its quotation or offer. In lieu of submitting the full text of those provisions, the offeror may identify the provision by paragraph identifier and provide the appropriate information with its quotation or offer. Also, the full text of a solicitation provision may be accessed electronically at these addresses:

FEDERAL ACQUIISITION REGULATION:

http://www.arnet.gov/far/

GENERAL SERVICE ADMINISTRATION ACQUISITION MANUAL:

http://www.arnet.gov/GSAM/gsam.html

DEFENSE FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION SUPPLEMENT

http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/dars/dfars/html/current/tochtml.htm

L.2 52.215-1 Instructions to Offerors—Competitive Acquisition.

As prescribed in FAR 15.209(a):

Instructions to Offerors—Competitive Acquisition (Jan 2004)

(a) Definitions. As used in this provision—

“Discussions” are negotiations that occur after establishment of the competitive range that may, at the Contracting Officer’s discretion, result in the offeror being allowed to revise its proposal.

“In writing,” “writing,” or “written” means any worded or numbered expression that can be read, reproduced, and later communicated, and includes electronically transmitted and stored information.

“Proposal modification” is a change made to a proposal before the solicitation’s closing date and time, or made in response to an amendment, or made to correct a mistake at any time before award.

“Proposal revision” is a change to a proposal made after the solicitation closing date, at the request of or as allowed by a Contracting Officer as the result of negotiations.

“Time,” if stated as a number of days, is calculated using calendar days, unless otherwise specified, and will include Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays. However, if the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, then the period shall include the next working day.

(b) Amendments to solicitations. If this solicitation is amended, all terms and conditions that are not amended remain unchanged. Offerors shall acknowledge receipt of any amendment to this solicitation by the date and time specified in the amendment(s).

(c) Submission, modification, revision, and withdrawal of proposals.

(1) Unless other methods (e.g., electronic commerce or facsimile) are permitted in the solicitation, proposals and modifications to proposals shall be submitted in paper media in sealed envelopes or packages (i) addressed to the office specified in the solicitation, and (ii) showing the time and date specified for receipt, the solicitation number, and the name and address of the offeror. Offerors using commercial carriers should ensure that the proposal is marked on the outermost wrapper with the information in paragraphs (c)(1)(i) and (c)(1)(ii) of this provision.

(2) The first page of the proposal must show—

(i) The solicitation number;

(ii) The name, address, and telephone and facsimile numbers of the offeror (and electronic address if available);

(iii) A statement specifying the extent of agreement with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation and agreement to furnish any or all items upon which prices are offered at the price set opposite each item;

(iv) Names, titles, and telephone and facsimile numbers (and electronic addresses if available) of persons authorized to negotiate on the offeror’s behalf with the Government in connection with this solicitation; and

(v) Name, title, and signature of person authorized to sign the proposal. Proposals signed by an agent shall be accompanied by evidence of that agent’s authority, unless that evidence has been previously furnished to the issuing office.

(3) Submission, modification, revision, and withdrawal of proposals.

(i) Offerors are responsible for submitting proposals, and any modifications or revisions, so as to reach the Government office designated in the solicitation by the time specified in the solicitation. If no time is specified in the solicitation, the time for receipt is 4:30 p.m., local time, for the designated Government office on the date that proposal or revision is due.

(ii)(A) Any proposal, modification, or revision received at the Government office designated in the solicitation after the exact time specified for receipt of offers is “late” and will not be considered unless it is received before award is made, the Contracting Officer determines that accepting the late offer would not unduly delay the acquisition; and—

(1) If it was transmitted through an electronic commerce method authorized by the solicitation, it was received at the initial point of entry to the Government infrastructure not later than 5:00 p.m. one working day prior to the date specified for receipt of proposals; or

(2) There is acceptable evidence to establish that it was received at the Government installation designated for receipt of offers and was under the Government’s control prior to the time set for receipt of offers; or

(3) It is the only proposal received.

(B) However, a late modification of an otherwise successful proposal that makes its terms more favorable to the Government, will be considered at any time it is received and may be accepted.

(iii) Acceptable evidence to establish the time of receipt at the Government installation includes the time/date stamp of that installation on the proposal wrapper, other documentary evidence of receipt maintained by the installation, or oral testimony or statements of Government personnel.

(iv) If an emergency or unanticipated event interrupts normal Government processes so that proposals cannot be received at the office designated for receipt of proposals by the exact time specified in the solicitation, and urgent Government requirements preclude amendment of the solicitation, the time specified for receipt of proposals will be deemed to be extended to the same time of day specified in the solicitation on the first work day on which normal Government processes resume.

(v) Proposals may be withdrawn by written notice received at any time before award. Oral proposals in response to oral solicitations may be withdrawn orally. If the solicitation authorizes facsimile proposals, proposals may be withdrawn via facsimile received at any time before award, subject to the conditions specified in the provision at 52.215-5, Facsimile Proposals. Proposals may be withdrawn in person by an offeror or an authorized representative, if the identity of the person requesting withdrawal is established and the person signs a receipt for the proposal before award.

(4) Unless otherwise specified in the solicitation, the offeror may propose to provide any item or combination of items.

(5) Offerors shall submit proposals in response to this solicitation in English, unless otherwise permitted by the solicitation, and in U.S. dollars, unless the provision at FAR 52.225-17, Evaluation of Foreign Currency Offers, is included in the solicitation.

(6) Offerors may submit modifications to their proposals at any time before the solicitation closing date and time, and may submit modifications in response to an amendment, or to correct a mistake at any time before award.

(7) Offerors may submit revised proposals only if requested or allowed by the Contracting Officer.

(8) Proposals may be withdrawn at any time before award. Withdrawals are effective upon receipt of notice by the Contracting Officer.

(d) Offer expiration date. Proposals in response to this solicitation will be valid for the number of days specified on the solicitation cover sheet (unless a different period is proposed by the offeror).

(e) Restriction on disclosure and use of data. Offerors that include in their proposals data that they do not want disclosed to the public for any purpose, or used by the Government except for evaluation purposes, shall—

(1) Mark the title page with the following legend:

This proposal includes data that shall not be disclosed outside the Government and shall not be duplicated, used, or disclosed—in whole or in part—for any purpose other than to evaluate this proposal. If, however, a contract is awarded to this offeror as a result of—or in connection with—the submission of this data, the Government shall have the right to duplicate, use, or disclose the data to the extent provided in the resulting contract. This restriction does not limit the Government's right to use information contained in this data if it is obtained from another source without restriction. The data subject to this restriction are contained in sheets [insert numbers or other identification of sheets];

and

(2) Mark each sheet of data it wishes to restrict with the following legend:

Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this proposal.

(f) Contract award.

(1) The Government intends to award a contract or contracts resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror(s) whose proposal(s) represents the best value after evaluation in accordance with the factors and subfactors in the solicitation.

(2) The Government may reject any or all proposals if such action is in the Government’s interest.

(3) The Government may waive informalities and minor irregularities in proposals received.

(4) 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 Contracting Officer later determines them to be necessary. If the Contracting Officer determines that the number of proposals that would otherwise be in the competitive range exceeds the number at which an efficient competition can be conducted, the Contracting Officer may limit the number of proposals in the competitive range to the greatest number that will permit an efficient competition among the most highly rated proposals.

(5) The Government reserves the right to make an award on any item for a quantity less than the quantity offered, at the unit cost or prices offered, unless the offeror specifies otherwise in the proposal.

(6) The Government reserves the right to make multiple awards if, after considering the additional administrative costs, it is in the Government’s best interest to do so.

(7) Exchanges with offerors after receipt of a proposal do not constitute a rejection or counteroffer by the Government.

(8) The Government may determine that a proposal is unacceptable if the prices proposed are materially unbalanced between line items or subline items. Unbalanced pricing exists when, despite an acceptable total evaluated price, the price of one or more contract line items is significantly overstated or understated as indicated by the application of cost or price analysis techniques. A proposal may be rejected if the Contracting Officer determines that the lack of balance poses an unacceptable risk to the Government.

(9) If a cost realism analysis is performed, cost realism may be considered by the source selection authority in evaluating performance or schedule risk.

(10) A written award or acceptance of proposal mailed or otherwise furnished to the successful offeror within the time specified in the proposal shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party.

(11) If a post-award debriefing is given to requesting offerors, the Government shall disclose the following information, if applicable:

(i) The agency’s evaluation of the significant weak or deficient factors in the debriefed offeror’s offer.

(ii) The overall evaluated cost or price and technical rating of the successful and the debriefed offeror and past performance information on the debriefed offeror.

(iii) The overall ranking of all offerors, when any ranking was developed by the agency during source selection.

(iv) A summary of the rationale for award.

(v) For acquisitions of commercial items, the make and model of the item to be delivered by the successful offeror.

(vi) Reasonable responses to relevant questions posed by the debriefed offeror as to whether source-selection procedures set forth in the solicitation, applicable regulations, and other applicable authorities were followed by the agency.

(End of provision)

L.3 Proposal Contents

Proposals must –

L.3.1 Remittance - include the “Remit to” address, if different than mailing address;

L.3.2 Terms, Conditions, Provisions Agreement - Include a statement that the offeror agrees with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation. Offers that fail to furnish required representations or information, or reject the terms and conditions of the solicitation may be excluded from consideration.

L.3.3 Relevant Data - Include all relevant data.

L.3.4 Elaboration - Not include unnecessarily elaborate brochures, documentation, binding, detailed artwork, or other embellishments.

L.3.5 Unclassified - Be unclassified.

L.3.6 Assumptions - Include all assumptions made by the offeror.

L.3.7.

Technical Proposal - Include a technical proposal. The technical proposal must provide a technical description of the items and services being offered in sufficient detail to evaluate compliance with the requirements in the solicitation. This may include product literature, or other documents, if necessary. For this solicitation --a.

Capabilities and Resources: The proposal shall respond to the performance work statement by describing the capabilities and resources of the company that are available for performance of this work. If the offeror will use subcontractors to assist in fulfilling this requirement those subcontracting agreements should be substantiated.

b.

Vendor Product vs. Government Requirement-General: The proposal shall describe the offered IUID Data Labels and IUID Data Label Processing and Management Service and demonstrate how and to what degree the proposed IUID Data Labels and IUID Data Label Processing and Management Service will meet this requirement, including any associated, accompanying, or referenced laws, regulations, standards, provisions or documents. Section III – Proposal Evaluation - of this Solicitation stipulates how the Government will perform the technical evaluation and identifies the kind of information it will be looking for in the proposal to perform the evaluation. It is incumbent on the offeror to furnish the information needed for the evaluation. The Government will base its evaluation of the proposals on the information furnished. An absence of information will result in a score that reflects the offeror’s inability to meet the requirement that is un-addressed in the proposal. The Government is looking for product flexibility to meet a wide variety of labeling requirements, and compliance with the intent of MIL-STD-130N. For example, this includes material, imprint, and attachment options. These should be clearly addressed in the proposal.

c.

Samples: The proposal shall be accompanied by a representative sample of each type of data label material from Template #4 and Template #11 in all commercially available thicknesses spelled out in Section C, Paragraph 7.1.2, Table C-2. Samples shall be mailed to:

Edwin Chase, Project Manager

AFMC LSO/LOA

5215 Thurlow Street, Suite

Building 70, Area C

Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433-5006 Phone: (937) 257-7186, DSN 787-7186.

Email: edwin.chase@wpafb.af.mil.

d.

Production & Delivery Capability: The proposal shall specifically state the offeror’s production and delivery capability for each type of data label material. In other words, the offeror should provide a matrix showing how many data labels of each type can be delivered on a repetitive basis in the turn-around times set forth in the PWS (Paragraph 7.2.1.11). As an alternative, the offeror can propose a production and delivery solution setting forth delivery time alternatives and options based on production and delivery capability, order size, and commercial shipping practices. The production and delivery solution shall explains to what degree the offeror can meet the delivery expectations of the Government. Solutions should be supported by data that substantiates the feasibility and realism of the proposed solution. Note: This information is being requested both for proposal evaluation purposes and so that the Government can established daily IUID Data Label request limitations in the contract as a workflow management tool.

e.

Shipping Strategy: The proposal shall include a shipping strategy. The shipping strategy shall outline the methods and typical costs of shipping. The offeror shall also apply their shipping strategy to the following five label request scenarios.

(1) Scenario 1 – A request for 500 aluminum labels with 100 requested under delivery Tier 1 and 400 requested under delivery Tier 3 to Edwards AFB, CA.

(2) Scenario 2 – A request for 500 aluminum labels with 100 requested under delivery Tier 1 and 400 requested under delivery Tier 3 to Hanscom AFB, MA.

(3) Scenario 3 – A request for 50 aluminum labels and 50 vinyl labels ordered under delivery Tier 3 to Warner-Robins AFB, GA.

(4) Scenario 4 – A request for 1 aluminum label requested under delivery Tier 1 and 1 tesa tape label requested under delivery Tier 3 to Lackland AFB, TX

(5) Scenario 5 – A request for 1000 aluminum labels with 200 requested under delivery Tier 1, 400 requested under shipping Tier 2, and 400 requested under delivery Tier 3; and 3000 Tesa tape labels all requested under delivery Tier 3 to Wright Patterson AFB, OH.

(6) Scenario 6 – A request for 1000 aluminum labels with 400 requested under delivery Tier 2 and 600 requested under delivery Tier 3 to Ramsteim AFB, Germany.

f.

Web-based Interface Demonstration: The proposal shall address the IUID Web Design & Usability Guide criteria (Attachment 3) by providing a web address (URL) so evaluators can view an on-line demonstration of the offeror’s current web-based interface. As an alternative, the proposal can include screen shots and explanations of the various functions listed in the IUID Web Design & Usability Guide.

g.

Web-based Interface Implementation: The proposal shall contain a Work Breakdown Structure or Timeline for implementation of the web-based interface, if it will not be available within 15 calendar days after contract award. The proposal should include Information supporting the achievability of the timeline goals. The purpose of this information is to allow the Government to make a level of confidence determination as to whether the offered system will be fully functional within the six (6) month requirement in the PWS.

h.

Data Items: The proposal shall confirm the offeror’s ability to deliver the data items in accordance with the Delivery Requirements (Section F).

i.

Proposal Clarity: The proposal should be clear and concise. All claims and capabilities should be substantiated by references, documented experience, and/or examples.

j.

Extraneous Material: The proposal shall not include, by reference, any extraneous material. The proposal shall not mention external material (material not included in the proposal) that would not be easily understood by a general practitioner in the field of expertise related to this requirement.

k.

Item Request Quantity Discount Strategy – At the option of the offeror, the offeror may propose an item quantity discount strategy. The discount strategy, if quantity discounts are offered, shall apply to item quantity discounts given at the time IUID Data Labels are requested through the web-based interface. The strategy should set forth the percent discount (not dollar amount) that will be offered on an individual label request based on the quantity ordered (specifying whether in total, by individual label material type, size, thickness, marking process, attachment method, delivery time, etc.). The strategy may include tiered discounting. If the discount strategy is to offer lower unit pricing (in Attachment 1), the offeror should clearly state this in the proposal.

l.

Minimum Order Request Surcharge – At the option of the offeror, the offeror may propose a price surcharge for minimum order requests. If the offeror chooses to proposed a Minimum Order Request Surcharge, the offeror’s surcharge strategy shall be submitted with the technical proposal. The strategy shall define what constitutes a minimum order request, i.e., single web-based interface request, all requests for a specific item within a 24 hour period, etc. and specify at what point the surcharge will be applied or above what quantity the surcharge will be removed. The Minimum Order Request Surcharge strategy shall clearly spell out the amount of the surcharge and specify if the surcharge amount will be different for different materials or label configurations. The proposed Minimum Order Request Surcharge strategy will be incorporated into the contract of the winning offeror.

m.

Price Adjustment Strategy – If the proposal includes a strategy for adjusting the offered prices, either for product quality, composition, adhesive, or any other technical options or for any other reason, that strategy must be clearly explained. The price adjustment strategy will be evaluated along with the technical evaluation of the offered technical or business options. The proposed price adjustments and the strategy for their application will be incorporated into the contract of the winning offeror L.3.8 Price - State the fixed unit prices and total price for a quantity of one, each, offered for IUID Data Labels.

a.

Fixed unit prices offered for IUID Data Labels will include: (1) the price of data labels, (2) the price of the processing and management service, (3) the price of the phone support, and (4) the price of all supporting and/or overhead costs associated with this product and its delivery (excluding actual direct shipping charges).

b.

A quantity of one, for each of the selected Contract Line Item Number (CLIN), shall be used as the basis for proposal price comparison. The total price offered will be the total amount when all unit-of-one prices are summed. This total price amount will be used for evaluation purposes only. The actual schedule of items and prices will be established based on the options offered in the best value solution. The contract ceiling will be set by the Government at time of award to accurately represent the total price for purchasing all data labels.

c.

The Government has provided a Schedule of Items / Services and Prices (see Attachment 1). Offerors shall use this schedule for submitting their list of items and prices. The configuration of this schedule represents the Government’s conception of item pricing. Phase increments have been used to allow for price changes over the life of the contract and are not fixed to any specific period of time although they generally represent one year.

d.

The Government recognizes that the best value solution, selected for contract award, will likely incorporate item options and prices not included in the Government’s schedule that is being used for proposal evaluation purposes. Additionally, offerors may desire to use different schedule configurations to represent or capture their individual pricing structure, considering tier pricing or pricing variations. Offerors may propose an alternate schedule configuration. The proposed alternate configuration will be considered by the Government for use in the contract but prices in the alternate schedule configuration will not be considered during the evaluation or affect the outcome of the evaluation. Only the total price, as defined above, will be used in the best value determination. Note: Delivery orders placed against this contract will be based on the fixed unit prices offered.

e.

State the estimated prices for shipping* based on the proposed shipping strategy. For estimating purposes, 80% of the labels shall be shipped to locations within the continental United States and 20% shall be shipped overseas. Shipping costs are included on a separate contract line item and will be reimbursed at actual cost. These prices will be used for planning and budget purposes and to establish ceiling prices in the contract but will NOT be included in the price total when performing the best value determination during proposal evaluations.

*Note: The estimated price for shipping is the estimated amount that will be paid to a third party shipper or the estimated amount that the offeror will charge for self-shipping. In either case, shipping costs must be broken out separately prior to reimbursement by the Government, and will be subject to validation in accordance with the cost reimbursement provisions of the contract. If offerors propose self-shipping or to include indirect charges on direct shipping costs, the Government will require extensive validation and financial audits to insure that these indirect charges are not also included in the overheads charged on the fixed price portions of this contract. This financial oversight will not be required if only third party shippers are used and only direct costs are billed for shipping.

f.

Travel will be reimburse at actual cost up to the ceiling of $10,000 per contract phase increment. These ceiling prices are included in the price schedule. Travel prices will NOT be included in the price total when performing the best value determination during proposal evaluations.

L.3.9 Warranty - Provide a copy of the applicable manufacturer’s commercial warranty.

L.3.10 Section 508 - Confirm compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. [All services and/or products provided in response to this solicitation shall comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d), and the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance board Electronic and Information Technology (EIT) Accessibility Standards (36 CRF Part 1194).]

L.3.11 CCR - Confirm Central Contractor Registration (CCR) [The Contractor must be registered in the Central Contractor Registration to receive an award in response to this solicitation. Vendors may register at http://www.ccr.gov.]

L.3.12 Reps & Certs - Provide or Confirm Representations and Certifications (ORAC reference if applicable), and provide DUNS number and TIN for contract processing, unless provided in conjunction with a FSS contract (see Section K).

L.3.13 Past Performance - Provide Past Performance information. To substantiate the offeror’s ability to perform this work the proposal shall contain information about work the offeror has performed during the past two years or is currently performing for other clients. Past Performance information is required for a minimum of three (3) “recent and relevant contracts”. Past performance information shall include (1) a description of the work, (2) delivery performance, (3) the contract number, and (4) the client point of contact with telephone number and/or email address. It may also include any other information the offeror wishes to furnish. Client references will be contacted and asked to comment on the offeror’s product quality, product compliance with their requirement, delivery, technical support responsiveness, and ability to understand and correct problems.

L.3.14 Partial Proposal - Paragraph (c)(4) of FAR 52.215-1 Instructions to Offerors—Competitive Acquisition, above, does not apply to this acquisition. The Government will not accept proposals that provide any item or combination of items. Only proposals that offer all required items will be eligible for award.

L.3.15.Alternate Proposals - Offerors may submit more than one proposal, i.e., alternate proposals. Each proposal must stand on its own and will be evaluated separately. Alternate proposals may use different item and pricing configurations; however, ONLY the total price of each alternate proposal, as defined above, will be used in the best value determination.

L.4 Proposal / Quotation Submission Instructions

L.4.1 Submission

Offerors shall submit proposals/quotes electronically through the GSA ITSS (Information Technology Solutions Shop) system procurement portal (web.ITSS.gsa.gov) under the solicitation number noted above. (see ITSS Registration Requirement, below.) This system allows offerors to provide information in text boxes and attach proposal documents. Proposal must be received by the date and time specified in the FedBizOpps solicitation announcement to be considered.

L.4.2 ITSS Attachment Restrictions

Proposals or quotations submitted to ITSS, as attachments, must conform to formats compatible with Microsoft Office software (i.e., MS Word, MS Excel, etc) with all external objects embedded (not linked) or Portable Document Format (PDF). [Note: This stipulation is for compatibility with government software, only, and is not an endorsement of Microsoft Corporation, Adobe, Inc., or other manufactures of compatible software or of their products.] Multimedia files will not be accepted, e.g., QuickTime or Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, etc.

L.4.3 ITSS Registration Requirement

Offerors must register through the GSA Information Technology Solution Shop (ITSS) procurement portal (web.ITSS.gsa.gov) prior to submitting or downloading their proposal. Instructions for registering are provided on the web site (web.ITSS.gsa.gov). Additionally, phone technical support for ITSS is available by calling toll free 877 / 243-2889 and following the prompts.

L.4.4 Page Limitations a.

The government has limited the size of proposals to reduce the burden on the evaluation team. The limitations are as follows – (1) Technical Proposal – 20 pages (2) Past Performance Information -- Two pages per referenced company plus 5 pages for other past performance documentation

(3) Price Proposal – No page limit b.

A page is defined as follows: Printing on one side of a standard letter size 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of paper or “letter size” electronic page. Larger page sizes are considered to be one page provided they are used for charts and diagrams, only.

c.

Exceptions to the page limitation restriction are as follows --

(1) Front Cover Page and Back Cover Page, provided no proposal information appears other than identifying information such as the offeror’s name, offeror’s contact information, project title, solicitation number, date of preparation, and company logos.

(2) Section Tab/Separator Pages, provided no proposal information appears on the page other than Section Name/Number.

(3) Table of Contents.

(4) List of Tables.

(5) List of Figures.

(6) Pages intentionally left blank.

(7) Organizational Conflict of Interest Mitigation Plan, if applicable.

(8) Any required safety or security forms.

(9) Individual employees’ resumes or curriculums vitae (CVs).

(10) Preprinted brochures or specification data sheets

(11) Compliance matrix, should the offeror choose to furnish one.

(12) An Appendix containing stand alone supporting documents, such as teaming agreements, warranties, verification reports, user guides, etc.

13) An Appendix containing screen shots of the proposed web-based interface.

L.5 Proposal/Quotation Retention

In accordance with FAR Subpart 4.8 (Government Contract Files), the Government will retain one copy of all unsuccessful proposals.

L.6 Proposal Preparation Costs

This RFQ/RFP/RFI does not commit the Government to pay any cost for the preparation and submission of a quote(s) or proposal(s) or other response to this request. In the event discussions and/or oral presentations are held, the Government will not reimburse contractors for expenses associated with discussions and/or oral presentations.

L.7 Proposal Privacy

Information received by the Government, from vendors, in response to this solicitation that is subject to the Privacy Act shall be used in complete accordance with all rules of conduct as applicable to Privacy Act Information.

L.8 Requests for Changes, Clarifications or Additional Information

The Government Contracting Officer is the offerors’ single point of contact for questions, clarifications, comments, and additional information regarding this solicitation. ADDRESS ALL QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS SOLICITATION TO THE CONTRACTING OFFICER BEFORE PROPOSALS OR QUOTATIONS ARE DUE. Answers to questions will be provided to potential offerors giving due regard for the proper protection of proprietary information.

Additionally, no representative of the vendor or the Government is authorized to negotiate or otherwise change the terms and conditions of this solicitation, or enter into any additional agreements regarding this solicitation without the written approval of the Contracting Officer.

Address correspondence to –

Mr. Eben Greybourne

Contracting Officer

U.S. General Services Administration

Federal Acquisition Service, Great Lakes Region

Acquisition Operations Division

Code 5QZA, Room 3280 230 South Dearborn Street, Room 3280

Chicago, Illinois 60604-1505

Office Phone: (312) 886-3811

Facsimile: (312) 886-3827 eben.greybourne@gsa.gov L.9 Debriefings Pre-award debriefings and post-award debriefing may be requested and will be conducted in accordance with the provisions of FAR 15.505 and FAR 15.506, respectively. The Contracting Officer will schedule debriefings as soon as practicable after a request is received.

L.10 Questions and Requests for Clarification Offerors who have questions or who are seeking clarifications regarding any part of this solicitation are encouraged to do so at their earliest convenience, but in any event, not later than seven (7) days before proposal are due. The Government will post responses on FedBizOpps. Requestors will not be identified in the Government’s response.

L.11 Amendments to Solicitation If Amendments to the solicitation are issued, they will be posted on FedBizOpps.

L.12 Discussions While the Government intends to make an award without discussions, the Government reserves the right to hold discussions with offerors in the competitive range. If held, discussion may be conducted in orally or in writing. If discussions result in a change to the offeror’s proposal, the offeror shall submit a revised proposal, in writing, at a time mutually agreed upon by the parties.

L.13 Minimum Proposal Acceptance Period Offerors allowing insufficient time for proposal acceptance by the Government will be asked to extend the proposal acceptance period. Failure of an offeror to grant an extension will render a proposal unacceptable for award.

L. 14 Notice About Releasing Proposals Should the Government use non-government technical advisors to evaluate proposal, these advisors will be required to execute a GSA a “Conflict of Interest Acknowledgment and Nondisclosure Agreement.”

L. 15 Notice About Quantities The total item quantities stated in this solicitation (CLIN A01) are the ceiling quantities for IUID Data Label. These ceiling quantities will be inserted into the IDIQ contract resulting from this solicitation. These quantities are based on best available information regarding the total asset inventory expected to be labeled during the life of this contract. Neither this solicitation, nor the resulting contract, makes any guarantee, either explicit or implied, that the Government will process and place IUID Data Labels orders for this entire inventory during the life of this contract.

Item quantities in this solicitation for each IUID Data Label material (CLINs C01, C02, C03, C04, & C05) are estimated and are for evaluation purposes only. These estimated quantities may be adjusted before inclusion in the resulting IDIQ Contract. Additionally, during the life of this contract, should the ceiling quantity in any individual contract line item be insufficient to fill orders, the Government may modify this contract to increase the ceiling of that line item by reducing the ceiling quantity of another, less used, line item. In no event will the total ceiling quantity of 9,461,400 IUID Data Labels be exceeded.

L.16 Small Business Set-Aside Notice This is a Small Business Set-Aside. The following notice applies to all proposals submitted in response to this solicitation.

Notice of Total Small Business Set-Aside (FAR 52.219-6)(June 2003)

As prescribed in FAR 19.508(c)

(a) Definition. “Small business concern,” as used in this clause, means a concern, including its affiliates, that is independently owned and operated, not dominant in the field of operation in which it is bidding on Government contracts, and qualified as a small business under the size standards in this solicitation.

(b) General.

(1) Offers are solicited only from small business concerns. Offers received from concerns that are not small business concerns shall be considered nonresponsive and will be rejected.

(2) Any award resulting from this solicitation will be made to a small business concern.

(c) Agreement. A small business concern submitting an offer in its own name shall furnish, in performing the contract, only end items manufactured or produced by small business concerns in the United States or its outlying areas. If this procurement is processed under simplified acquisition procedures and the total amount of this contract does not exceed $25,000, a small business concern may furnish the product of any domestic firm. This paragraph does not apply to construction or service contracts.

(End of clause)

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