CPNT_Combined Synopsis Solicitation.pdf

Type Combined Synopsis/Solicitation

Solicitation No.

6913G624Q300020

Title Complementary Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (CPNT) Services for participation in a field trial campaign.

NAICS Code 541330

Recovery and Reinvestment Act Action No

Point of Contact Andrew Josephs

(617) 494-3864

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 12.6 as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotations (including a statement of work) are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. Solicitation No. 6913G624Q300020 is issued as a Request for Quotation (RFQ). This solicitation is being conducted in accordance with the policies and procedures prescribed in FAR Part 12, Acquisition of Commercial Items, and FAR Part 13, Simplified Acquisition Procedures. The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2024-02 effective December 22, 2023. This procurement is being solicited under NAICS code 541330. This Combined Synopsis/Solicitation is being issued as Full and Open competition.

The United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT), Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center), has a need for commercial services to support a CPNT field test trial. The work consists of Technical Consulting & Engineering Services related to vendor participation in a technology field test range trials run by the Government. No equipment will be purchased by the Government from any Offerors as part of this requirement. The Volpe Center will use the data from the field test trial to support research to promote widespread adoption of CPNT services.

The Government intends to award multiple Firm-Fixed Price purchase orders as a result of this Combined Synopsis/Solicitation. The Offeror’s quote shall be prepared in accordance with FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors, and the instructions included in this solicitation.

LIST OF CONTRACT LINE ITEM NUMBERS (CLIN)

Pricing Schedule and Statement of Work (SOW) submitted, will be incorporated into any resulting contract under the following CLIN.

CLIN 00100 - Deployment and evaluation of CPNT technologies under nominal and challenging conditions

CLIN 00200 – Travel in support of CLIN 00100

OPTION CLIN 00300 – Deployment and evaluation of CPNT technologies under nominal and challenging conditions

OPTION CLIN 00400 – Travel in support of CLIN 00300

OPTION CLIN 00500 - Deployment and evaluation of CPNT technologies under nominal and challenging conditions

OPTION CLIN 00600 - Travel and in support of CLIN 00500

REQUIREMENTS/SPECIFICATIONS

Offerors must be able to demonstrate a solution within the parameters listed in Section V of the Statement of Objectives (SOO) attached as Appendix A.

The Offeror is required to provide all personnel, support, equipment, and management necessary to accomplish Offeror’s proposed technical tasks in support of the field test campaign as outlined in its proposed Statement of Work (SOW). The SOW must include the Offeror’s proposed timeline to accomplish its tasks, and indicate government timeline dependencies. The Offeror SOW will be incorporated into each resulting purchase order.

Most important, proposals must describe how the CPNT technology achieves the required minimum Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of eight (8) or higher, as described in the Federal Highway Administration Technology Readiness Level Guidebook1. The TRL requirement applies to the full end-to-end solution including the PNT service infrastructure and user equipment.

The Offeror(s) should indicate its preference of the three sites (described in Appendix A) at which the Offeror’s Solution will be performed, henceforth referred to as the Field Test Range Site.

The operating constraint details are listed in Appendix A, Section VI.

NOTICE TO OFFERORS

1 Technology Readiness Level Guidebook (FHWA-HRT-17-047), Federal Highway Administration Exploratory Advanced Research Program, September 2017, https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/34280

The offer should be addressed to the following: U.S. Department of Transportation, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, Attn: Andrew Josephs, V-221, 220 Binney Street, Cambridge, MA 02142. The signed offer must be submitted via e-mail to andrew.josephs@dot.gov by closing date of March 25, 2024, at 4:00 PM EST.

No telephone requests will be honored. The Government will not pay for any information received. It is anticipated that an award resulting from this Combined Synopsis/Solicitation will be made on or about TBD.

This Combined Synopsis/Solicitation hereby incorporates all FAR provisions and clauses contained herein. The provisions and clauses cited in this notice can be viewed at FAR http://www.acquisition.gov/far and Transportation Acquisition Regulation (TAR) https://www.transportation.gov/assistant-secretary-administration/procurement/tar-part- 1252-solicitatons-provisions-and-contract Websites.

NOTE: Any contract award resulting from this solicitation is anticipated to be awarded using the Standard Form (SF) 1449 and will include substantially the same content as this notice; however, any of the solicitation instructions or references to solicitation documents will be eliminated.

FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items (SEP 2023), applies to this acquisition and is incorporated by reference (the complete provision is attached to this notice). Addenda to FAR 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors – Commercial Items (SEP 2023) are as follows:

Addenda to FAR Provision 52.212-1(b), add the following subparagraph (12):

The Offeror’s failure to comply with the solicitation instructions may render its quote package to be non-responsive. The Offeror’s quote must be completed and:

1. Offers must be received via email sent to andrew.josephs@dot.gov by the closing date/time in order to be considered.

2. The Offeror’s quote and forwarding email (in the subject line) must be marked with Solicitation Number 6913G624300020.

Offerors are required to submit their quotes in two (2) separate electronic file attachments. One attachment shall be titled Price Quote (Volume I) and the other attachment titled Statement of Work (Volume II). Each volume should be complete in itself so that evaluation of each part may be accomplished concurrently, and evaluation of non-price factors may be made strictly on the basis of technical acceptability. Prices and dollar values shall be stated only in the Price Quote and shall be omitted from the Technical Approach.

3. The time of receipt of quote is no later than March 25, 2024 at 4:00 PM EST, TBD.

{End Addenda}

Addenda to FAR Provision 52.212-1(b), add the following subparagraph (13):

Price Quote (Volume I):

Offerors shall complete a Solicitation “Pricing Schedule.” Prices proposed on the “Pricing Sheet” shall be inserted into the SF 1449 at the time of each contract award by the Contracting Officer (CO). Offerors shall provide information to support their quoted price, including fully burdened direct labor rates and labor hours, detailing specifications and costs. Offerors shall include all pricing information they feel is necessary to clearly present their costs as part of a narrative price supplement if applicable. After submission of the initial quote, Offerors shall provide additional information or details if requested by the CO.

Technical Approach (Volume II):

The Offeror’s Technical Approach, which includes a Technical Understanding and Statement of Work, must be submitted in PDF format in accordance with the following requirements:

It shall not exceed 10 pages. This page limit does not include the required appendices nor any marketing material that the Offeror wants to provide.

Font size shall be no smaller than 10 point.

Offerors shall document Technical Understanding to demonstrate that the Solution meets the requirements listed in Section V of the SOO (Appendix A) and a SOW outlining the services the offeror will perform.

The Technical Understanding shall also include:

1. A description of the solution and intended application(s) within critical infrastructure sectors.

2. Description and valid instructions (e.g., instruction manual) of how the Solution user equipment (UE) can be configured by a user for normal operation as well as data collection over standard interfaces (this is to be able to perform data collection with an external computer/server over standard interfaces to enable performance evaluation), specifically serial connections (e.g., RS-232, i2c, SPI), USB based, or other standard interfaces.

3. Diagrams and information for system installation and setup.

4. Assurance that the operation of the Solution must meet regulatory compliance and be without any proprietary licensing agreement restrictions.

5. Statement that the Solution will not produce information requiring protections against disclosure in the interest of national defense of the U.S.

The SOW shall be developed in response to the SOO and addresses the following:

1. Provide tasks the offeror will accomplish for the PNT solution (service and UE) to be operational and fully available to test and evaluate in a static and dynamic scenario where applicable. Operational and fully available solution for testing includes the UE being in a state where the user can follow the Vendor-provided instructions to configure one more UE(s) for operation and data collection via standard interface(s) from an external data collection system. The solution being fully available also includes the Vendor providing configuration and data collection software that can be run on a standard operating system such as a computer or server running Windows or Linux operating systems to be able to configure the UE and collect PNT and other relevant data from it over serial connections (e.g., RS-232, i2c, SPI), USB based, or other standard interfaces.

2. Provide a schedule to demonstrate the Offeror is able to meet the Rapid Phase expectations (as described in the DOT CPNT Action Plan2);

3. Provide a staffing plan with estimates of the number of unique and concurrent persons that will require access to the field trial site(s); and

4. Provide an Other Direct Costs (ODC) plan with estimates of trips required and equipment that will supplied.

The Technical Understanding and SOW are considered two sub-factors and will be evaluated equally.

Addenda to FAR Provision 52.212-1(c) as follows:

FAR 52.212-1(c) states: Period for acceptance of offers. The Offeror agrees to hold the prices in its offer firm for 45 calendar days from the date specified for receipt of offers, unless another time period is specified in an addendum to the solicitation.

Addenda changes the time period from 30 calendar days to 60 calendar days from the date specified for receipt of offers.

{End Addenda}

FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation- Commercial Items (NOV 2021) applies to this acquisition and is incorporated by reference. The criteria to be included in paragraph (a) include Technical Approach and Price. For each award, the technical approach is more important than price. Addenda to FAR Provision 52.212-2 Evaluation- Commercial Items (NOV 2021) are as follows:

Addenda to FAR Provision 52.212-2, add the following paragraph (d):

Evaluation: For each contract awarded, an award will be made to the Offerors whose quote offers the best overall value to the Government based on an integrated assessment of the non-price (Technical) and price factors. Technical Approach consists of two

2 U.S. Department of Transportation, Complementary PNT Action Plan, September 2023, https://www.transportation.gov/pnt/complementary-pnt-action-plan equally weighted sub factors: (1) Technical Understanding and (2) SOW. Technical Approach will be evaluated as Acceptable or Unacceptable in accordance with the definitions below. After the Price Quotes of all Technically Acceptable quotes have been determined, in the CO’s sole discretion, to be fair and reasonable, Acceptable quotes will be ranked by Technical Readiness Level and schedule as discerning factors for award.

Cost may also be a discerning factor among proposals depending on the total funding available and the total price of all fair and reasonable, Technically Acceptable quotes.

Therefore, Offerors are cautioned not to minimize the importance of the Price Quote.

While it is the Government's intent to make awards based upon initial offers, the Government may, nevertheless, determine during the evaluation period that it is necessary to conduct discussions. In that case, the CO will establish a competitive range and conduct negotiations with the Offerors in that range.

The following adjectival ratings and definitions will be used to evaluate Technical Approach.

Acceptable: Quote meets all requirements and indicates a satisfactory approach to and understanding of the requirements of the RFQ.

Unacceptable: Quote does not meet all of the requirements of the RFQ.

Offerors are cautioned that an unacceptable rating in one criteria will render the quote technically unacceptable overall.

{End Addenda}

FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certification-Commercial Items (NOV 2023) applies to this acquisition and is incorporated by reference. All Offerors must include a completed copy of the provision at FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certification-Commercial Items with Price Quote Volume I.

FAR 52.204-24, Representation Regarding Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment (NOV 2021) applies to this acquisition and is incorporated by reference. All Offerors must include a completed copy of the provision at FAR 52.204-24 Representation Regarding Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment with Price Quote Volume I.

CONTRACT CLAUSES

FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items (NOV 2023) applies to this acquisition and is incorporated by reference. Note – a copy of the complete clause is attached to this notice.

FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items (DEC 2023) applies to this acquisition and the following additional FAR clauses cited in the clause are applicable to this acquisition:

52.203-6 (Alt. I), 52.204-10, 52.209-6, 52.219-28, 52.222-3, 52.222-19, 52.222-21, 52.222-26, 52.222-35, 52.222-36, 52.222-37, 52.222-40, 52.222-50, 52.222-54, 52.223- 18, 52.225-13, 52.232-33, and 52.239-1.

ADDITIONAL FAR CLAUSES INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE:

52.204-4 Printed or Copied Double-Sided on Postconsumer Fiber Content

Paper (MAY 2011) 52.204-7 Systems for Award Management (OCT 2018) 52.204-16 Commercial and Government Entity Code Reporting (AUG 2020) 52.204-18 Commercial and Government Entity Code Maintenance (AUG 2020) 52.204-21 Basic Safeguarding of Covered Contractor Information Systems

(NOV 2021)

52.204-23 Prohibition on Contracting for Hardware, Software, and Services

Developed or Provided by Kaspersky Lab and Other Covered Entities

(DEC 2023)

52.204-25 Prohibition on Contracting for Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment (NOV 2021)

52.204-27 Prohibition on a ByteDance Covered Application (JUN 2023) 52.217-9 Option to Extend the Term of the Contract (MAR 2000) 52.227-14 Rights in Data – General (MAY 2014) 52.232-40 Providing Accelerated Payments to Small Business Subcontractors

(MAR 2023)

TAR CLAUSES INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE:

1252.223-71 Accident and Fire Reporting (NOV 2022) 1252.223-73 Seat Belt Use Policies and Programs (NOV 2022) 1252.237-70 Qualifications of Contractor Employees (NOV 2022)

ADDITIONAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance of each order is one year from the date of award.

DELIVERABLES

Deliverables listed in Offeror’s SOW will be incorporated into each resulting purchase order.

INVOICE/PAYMENT REQUIREMENTS

a) The invoicing and payment office for all contract actions issued by the DOT/Volpe Center is located at the Enterprise Services Center (ESC), Office of Financial Operations, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

All invoices, including supporting documentation, are to be submitted electronically (e.g., PDF format) via email to volpeinvoices@faa.gov (all lower case). The CO and Contracting Officer’s Representative shall be copied or forwarded a copy of the email. A cover email must accompany each invoice and provide the applicable information in the fields listed in FAR 52.214-(g).

b) Offerors will invoice travel costs under CLINs 00200, 00400, and 00600 as necessary.

Invoices for travel must include receipts to substantiate the costs paid.