693JK323RFI0001.pdf

693JK323RFI0001

1. REQUEST NO.

5a. ISSUED BY

NAME

a. NAME

c. STREET ADDRESS

d. CITY

10. PLEASE FURNISH QUOTATIONS TO

THE ISSUING OFFICE IN BLOCK 5a ON

OR BEFORE CLOSE OF BUSINESS (Date)

2. DATE ISSUED 3. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQUEST NO. 4. CERT. FOR NAT. DEF.

UNDER BDSA REG. 2

AND/OR DMS REG.1

RATING

6. DELIVERY BY (Date)

7. DELIVERY

9. DESTINATION

a. NAME OF CONSIGNEE

b. STREET ADDRESS

PAGE OF PAGES

5b. FOR INFORMATION CALL: (No collect calls)

TELEPHONE NUMBER

AREA CODE NUMBER

8. TO:

b. COMPANY

e. STATE f. ZIP CODE

c. CITY

d. STATE e. ZIP CODE

IMPORTANT: This is a request for information, and quotations furnished are not offers. If you are unable to quote, please so indicate on this form and return it to the address in Block 5a. This request does not commit the Government to pay any costs incurred in the preparation of the submission of this quotation or to contract for supplies or services. Supplies are of domestic origin unless otherwise indicated by quoter. Any representations and/or certifications attached to this Request for Quotations must be completed by the quoter.

11. SCHEDULE (Include applicable Federal, State and local taxes)

THIS RFQ

REQUEST FOR QUOTATION

(THIS IS NOT AN ORDER)

IS IS NOT A SMALL BUSINESS SET ASIDEX

12/12/2022

1 2

Acquisition Services Division 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, East Bldg, 3rd Fl Washington DC 20590

PIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS SA

Multiple

202 366-6688DWAYNE CROSS

12/30/2022 1700 ES

FOB DESTINATION

OTHER

(See Schedule)X

ITEM NO.

(a)

SUPPLIES/SERVICES

(b)

QUANTITY

(c)

UNIT

(d)

UNIT PRICE

(e)

AMOUNT

(f)

Request for Information for Hazardous Materials Information Center (HMIC)

The Department of Transportation seeks information from interested parties concerning the attached Request for Information document.

DOT would like to identify capable vendors that have the ability to complete the requested tasks.

Please send responses that relate to the attached RFI document rather than merely your company's capability statement. Your response shall include the following:

1. Information specific to the attached RFI document.

Continued ...

12. DISCOUNT FOR PROMPT PAYMENT

a. 10 CALENDAR DAYS (%) b. 20 CALENDAR DAYS (%) c. 30 CALENDAR DAYS (%) d. CALENDAR DAYS

NUMBER PERCENTAGE

NOTE: Additional provisions and representations

13. NAME AND ADDRESS OF QUOTER

b. STREET ADDRESS

c. COUNTY

d. CITY e. STATE f. ZIP CODE

14. SIGNATURE OF PERSON AUTHORIZED TO

SIGN QUOTATION

16. SIGNER

a. NAME (Type or print)

c. TITLE (Type or print)

a. NAME OF QUOTER

AREA CODE

NUMBER

15. DATE OF QUOTATION

b. TELEPHONE are are not attached

AUTHORIZED FOR LOCAL REPRODUCTION

Previous edition not usable

STANDARD FORM 18 (REV. 6-95)

Prescribed by GSA - FAR (48 CFR) 53.215-1(a)

ITEM NO. SUPPLIES/SERVICES QUANTITY UNIT UNIT PRICE AMOUNT

NAME OF OFFEROR OR CONTRACTOR

2 2

CONTINUATION SHEET

REFERENCE NO. OF DOCUMENT BEING CONTINUED PAGE OF

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E) (F)

693JK323RFI0001

2. Business certifications/eligibility (i.e.

Service Disabled Veteran Owned, 8A, GSA number, etc.)

3. At least one(1) example of relevant/similar

Past Performance over the last 5 years.

- dollar amount of Past Performance MUST meet or exceed $500,000.00 per contract/delivery order.

- must provide contract number(s)

- must provide contract point of contact

** Page limit: 8 pages per submission.

**This is a Request for Information only and NOT a formal Solicitation.

NSN 7540-01-152-8067 OPTIONAL FORM 336 (4-86)

U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)

Request for Information (draft SOW): PHMSA wide services for the

Hazardous Materials Information Center (HMIC)

1. GENERAL

This is a nonpersonal service contract to provide Hazardous Materials Information Center

(HMIC) support service to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) Office of Hazardous Materials Safety (OHMS). PHMSA will not exercise any supervision or control over the contractor personnel performing the services herein. The contractor personnel will be accountable solely to the contractor who, in turn is responsible to OHMS.

1.1 Description of Services

The contractor must provide all personnel and, when necessary, items and equipment to perform

HMIC support service as defined in this performance work statement (PWS) except for those items and equipment specified as PHMSA furnished property and services. The contractor must perform to the standards of this PWS.

1.2 Background

OHMS has been using the HMIC as a public resource since 1998. The HMIC provides assistance, guidance, and outreach information regarding: 1) the transportation of hazardous materials in commerce under the HMR; 2) Rolling stock oil spill response plans, 3) the hazardous materials registration process, and 4) approval and special permit applications status and process. The support service is provided via a hotline and email address that customers can use to reach the

HMIC staff. Customers include the general public, the regulated community, and Federal, State, and local governments. The HMIC supports OHMS’ mission to enhance regulatory compliance and enforcement of standards through maintenance and dissemination of technical guidance and information regarding hazmat transportation.

1.3 Objectives

The contractor must ensure that all personnel assigned to work on this contract are technically qualified to process information requests, perform required administrative, process, and research functions, and provide complete, accurate, concise, and understandable responses. All personnel working under this contract must conduct themselves in a professional and courteous manner.

1.4 Scope

The contractor must maintain the current structure of the technical services provided by the

HMIC. Customers communicating with the HMIC must continue to have access to qualified and courteous staff knowledgeable in three key areas: 1) the HMR and associated supporting material;

2) the OHMS registration program; and 3) the OHMS approval and special permit program application process.

1.5 Information

a. Quality Control. The contractor must develop and maintain an effective quality control program (QCP) to ensure services are performed in accordance with this PWS.

Specifically, the contractor must develop and implement a standard operating procedure to identify and ensure standard technical service and to prevent substandard technical service from occurring or recurring. The contractor’s QCP is the means by which the contractor assures that the work provided complies with this contract. The QCP must be submitted with the contract proposal. After receipt of the QCP by the contracting office, the contractor will receive notice of approval in writing from the contracting officer (CO) with any proposed change(s) to the QCP.

Quality Assurance. OHMS will evaluate the contractor’s performance under this contract in accordance with a Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP). The QASP will outline what OHMS must do to ensure that the contractor has performed in accordance with the standards of the PWS. It defines how the performance standards will be applied, the frequency of surveillance, and the minimum acceptable defect rate(s).

b. Hours of Operation. The contractor is responsible for conducting work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (EST) Monday through Friday except Federal holidays, or other government directed closing of operations. The contractor must at all times maintain an adequate workforce for the uninterrupted performance of all tasks defined within this

PWS when the OHMS facility is not closed for the aforementioned reasons.

c. Continuity of Operation. In the event of an unexpected closure of the place of operation due to local emergencies (e.g., a weather related closing), the contractor must activate one of two options, depending on the ability of contractor personnel to get to the contractor facility, to continue operation of the HMIC: 1) operate at a contractor facility with telephone and email capabilities to respond to customer requests; or 2) operate remotely with telephone and email capabilities to respond to customer requests. The contractor will not be held to Performance Requirements in the Appendix, Performance

Requirement Summary, for customers contacting the HMIC.

d. Place of Operation. Contractor location.

e. Contract. The HMIC support service contract will be a fixed price contract.

2. CONTRACTOR FURNISHED SERVICES AND ITEMS

2.1 Services

The contractor must provide all personnel, in addition to the OHMS service provided, necessary to perform HMIC support service as outlined in this PWS.

2.2 Facility and Equipment

The contractor must provide the necessary workspace to allow for continuity of operation of

HMIC support service as outlined in this PWS.

3. SUMMARY OF REQUIREMENTS

Support service for the HMIC includes all of the following:

• Provide, in English, verbal and written responses to questions on 1) the transportation of hazardous materials in commerce under the HMR; 2) the hazardous materials registration process, and 3) approval and special permit applications status and process. Arrangements must also be made to field and respond to requests in Spanish including implementation of a translation service for Spanish speaking callers with the possibility of expansion of the service to include other languages as determined by the COR. An estimate of fewer than 15 calls per year will be from non-English speaking callers, and that the majority of those callers will be Spanish speaking.

• Provide sufficient personnel to field a customer call on the first attempt as much as is possible and to field approximately 12,000 calls (including emails) annually and an average of 48 daily requests. These numbers represent service that includes service provided by OHMS.

Sufficient personnel would include the capability to expand support to accommodate daily, weekly or monthly fluctuations in the average daily call volume, such as during registration season. Phone coverage by an individual must be limited to a maximum of six (6) consecutive hours per work day, except when due to factors outside the contractor’s control. We suggest incorporation of a schedule to limit single phone shifts to a maximum of five (5) hours per day.

• Provide, when appropriate and possible, copies of OHMS guidance and outreach documents to callers electronically, or by directing to the OHMS Website. Large requests for outreach documents may be directed to the Outreach, Training, and Grants Division.

• Provide support to OHMS by maintaining updated electronic and physical resources, and providing access to resources (see Tasks c. and d. in following section)

• Provide periodic review and analysis of HMIC telecommunications and information management systems, and make recommendations for more efficient or effective systems as needed.

• Provide periodic support to Standards and Rulemaking Division (SRD) personnel within OHMS in response to a special request to support SRD operations, as resources allow. For example, a request may be made to update the SRD FileMaker database for use by the SRD personnel or a request may be made to develop a written internal guidance on an “as needed” basis or for regulatory research, information management, or data gathering [This is not an authorization for personal service to an SRD employee by a contractor employee]. All special requests must be routed through and approved by the COR.

HMIC Tasks

The primary responsibility of fielding and responding to electronic, telephone, and written requests includes the following tasks:

a. Response to a Customer:

a.1 Customer call. Provide timely, accurate, complete, and courteous service when responding to a call. If a response cannot be provided within the span of a phone call and additional research is needed to provide adequate service, a response must be provided by close of the following work day. If research necessitates time beyond the following work day, the call must be coordinated with the COR or OHMS subject matter experts.

a.2 Voice message. Provide timely, accurate, complete, and courteous service when responding to a voice message left in the voicemail box of the HMIC. Fifty (50) percent of voice messages must be responded to by close of the work day and 100% of the messages responded to the following work day. A voice message left after hours of operation must be responded to by close of the following work day.

a.3 Email. Provide timely and courteous service when responding to an email. Fifty

(50) percent of the email received at infocntr@dot.gov during hours of operation must be responded to by close of the work day and 100% of the messages responded to the following work day. An email received after hours of operation must be responded to by the close of the next work day. Develop an email response template on the purview of the HMIC and directing the customer to contact the HMIC by phone. Depending on the circumstance, develop an email response to a request without offering interpretive guidance. Submit a response template and specific email responses to the

COR for review and approval prior to sending to customer.

a.4 Telephone system. Develop a phone system greeting for incoming calls during the work day and a voicemail message for calls received when the HMIC is closed or phone lines are busy. Provide periodic updates to the greeting when appropriate, necessary or upon request from the COR. Submit messages to the COR for review and approval prior to their use in the telephone system.

b. Development of Response: Provide a response to a customer request using

OHMS-approved resources and materials. A request that cannot be answered using approved resources and materials must be referred to the COR or an OHMS subject matter expert for guidance; or determination that the request should be submitted to OHMS for a letter of interpretation.

c. Maintain Electronic Databases. Administer the automated databases (developed using the PHMSA provided FileMaker Pro© software). Maintain and update records and mailto:infocntr@dot.gov data in either FileMaker Pro system, as appropriate for the HMIC call log database, and the 49 CFR 172.101 table of hazardous material descriptions database.

Estimated Workload Data

Historical Data of HMIC Calls and Emails

Calendar Year Annual Total Daily Average

2017-2018 19, 500 78

2018-2019 14,948 60

2019-2020 14,079 56

2020-2021 11,824 48

2021-2022 12,176 49

** As restrictions relax from the pandemic, call/email volume is expected to increase back to pre-pandemic levels**