Catering Solicitation 693JK426R500001 as PUBLISHED on March 5 2026 .pdf

U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)

Department Work-Life and Special Programs Office

Secretary’s 58th Annual Awards Ceremony

Catering Solicitation No. 693JK426R500001 for DOT Secretary’s

58th Annual Awards Ceremony

(SUPERSEDING Version Published in SAM.gov on March 5, 2026)

SECTION A----SOLICITATION COVER PAGE

No cover page accompanies this Solicitation. But if one had been compiled and provided, it probably would have been a Form 1449, since the needed contractor-effort described in this

Solicitation is arguably classifiable as commercial services.

SECTION B ---- OVER-VIEW

Executive Summary

(See farther below, in this Executive Summary, for:

~ The 11:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time March 29th, 2026 Proposal-Submission-

Deadline, and for

~ The March 17th, 2026 date of the Pre-Proposal-Site-Visit to DOT, and for

~ Dates-and-details for prospective offerors (Quoters) to Pre-register themselves, by

March 12th, 2026, for that DOT Site-Visit).

This published-in-SAM.gov document supersedes an identically-numbered Catering

Solicitation which had been directly and privately e-mailed, by DOT contracting officer James

Mowery, on approximately February 24, 2026, to several apparently-qualified prospective-offeror-companies, under the simplified-acquisition-authority and commercial-items-authority given in Parts 12 and 13 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). Further supporting details are given in the next paragraph.

Under the authority of FAR Parts 12 and 13, this Catering-Quote-Request (solicitation) was originally directly e-mailed, by DOT contracting officer James Mowery

(james.mowery@dot.gov), on February 24th, 2026, to several catering-companies believed, by

DOT’s Work-Life and Special Programs Office, to be qualified to perform the Catering project described herein. But DOT has since received an unexpectedly low level of expressed interest from those firms, and so that is the reason for the publishing, in SAM.gov, of this superseding

Catering Solicitation—pursuant to such a publishing-right which was explicitly reserved by

DOT in the prior-privately-e-mailed version of this Solicitation. By the publishing of this superseding Catering Solicitation in SAM.gov, DOT hopes to obtain a strong field of highly competitive Catering proposals, so that the resulting Catering contract can truly be a best value / best buy for DOT and the taxpayers.

DOT will not be disclosing the dollar-amount of the Department’s budget for the Catering project described in this Quote-Request / Solicitation.

Proposal-Submission-Deadline: 11:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time

March 29th, 2026. All proposals shall be e-mailed to all of the following DOT addresses:

james.mowery@dot.gov ; and Trina.Redmond@dot.gov; and Kenneth.Headley@dot.gov .

Pre-Proposal-Site-Visit to DOT: All prospective offeror-companies are encouraged but not required to attend a Pre-Proposal DOT-Site-Visit by having not more than two company-representatives report to the West Lobby of DOT’s Headquarters Building at 1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20590, not later than 10:45 AM Eastern Daylight Time on March 17, 2026.

Pre-Registration for Pre-Proposal Site-Visit to DOT: Each such site-visit-desiring company is asked to please e-mail, to all of the DOT addresses cited above (james.mowery@dot.gov ; and Trina.Redmond@dot.gov; and mailto:james.mowery@dot.gov mailto:james.mowery@dot.gov mailto:Trina.Redmond@dot.gov mailto:Kenneth.Headley@dot.gov mailto:james.mowery@dot.gov mailto:Trina.Redmond@dot.gov

Kenneth.Headley@dot.gov ) by 11:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time on March

12, 2026, the names of that company’s planned DOT-site-visit-attending persons.

Based on the DOT-Pre-Proposal Site-Visit information which each prospective offeror e-mails to DOT by

11:30 PM Eastern Time March 12th, 2026, DOT’s cognizant Contracting Officer’s Representative, Ms.

Trina Redmond Trina.Redmond@dot.gov and Mr. Kenneth Headley Kenneth.Headley@dot.gov will work with each such company so that Ms. Redmond and Mr. Headley can compile, for each such company, the Visit Request Form mentioned below in this Solicitation. And after compiling such Visitor

Request Form, Ms. Redmond herself, or Mr. Headley, will submit that compiled Visitor Request Form to a special DOT-private e-mail address for DOT’s Office of Security, and the Office of Security will then use that Visit Request information to send a visitor-request-approval to the Security Guards stationed in the lobby of DOT’s West Building (where Pre-Proposal-Site-Visiting-companies will be entering the

DOT Building on March 17th for the site-visit).

Each such company-representative reporting to the DOT West Lobby and planning to attend DOT’s

March 17th Pre-Proposal-Site-Visit shall bring with her or with him, to the DOT building on March 17th, at least one Real ID compliant identification. Prospective offerors shall find that Real ID compliance information by opening the following Department of Homeland Security (DHS) link:

https://www.tsa.gov/realid . (Readers of this Catering Solicitation will need to activate the DHS link given in the preceding sentence, by hovering over that link with the “mouse” on their computer, and by pressing the reader’s “Control” button, and simultaneously doing one left-click on the reader’s computer-“mouse”.)

It is estimated that all companies’ Pre-Proposal DOT-Site-Visit-attendees will be escorted, by DOT personnel, from DOT’s West Lobby, at about 11:00 AM Eastern Time on March 17th, onward and inward into DOT’s interior, to include visits to the DOT Building’s East Atrium and to DOT’s

Conference Room 6 and possibly to the room where the subject Award Ceremony’s Executive Luncheon, mentioned below, will be served. It is estimated that the Pre-Proposal Site-Visit will end at about 12:30

PM on March 17th, with all visitors then being escorted, by DOT employees, out through one of DOT’s lobbies.

Special Requirement applicable to any and every Foreign National who needs to enter the

DOT Building: A Foreign National visit request must be submitted, by each prospective DOT-Site-

Visiting offeror-company, to Trina.Redmond@dot.gov and to Kenneth.Headley@dot.gov, at least ten days in advance of the planned visit-day, and that request must include the following information:

Surname, Given Name, Country of Birth, Country of Citizenship, Date of Birth, Title or Position, Passport or Diplomatic ID#, Expiration date.

mailto:Kenneth.Headley@dot.gov mailto:Trina.Redmond@dot.gov mailto:Kenneth.Headley@dot.gov https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tsa.gov%2Frealid&data=05%7C02%7Cjames.mowery%40dot.gov%7C58b5126e6c3448a528d808de6efa283c%7Cc4cd245b44f04395a1aa3848d258f78b%7C0%7C0%7C639070217868571008%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=h2MxqK7zRXiglJVBJhhwnu345pVL8nZfRSeuAQhMGAY%3D&reserved=0 mailto:Trina.Redmond@dot.gov mailto:Kenneth.Headley@dot.gov

Note: After this Solicitation’s resulting Catering contract has been awarded, the contract-award-company shall use—in order to gain entrance the DOT Building on the Secretary’s Awards Ceremony

Catering-day, and on each and every other needed one-day-visit to the DOT Building, before and / or after the Catering-day—the same Visit Request Form procedure and the same Real ID presentation-procedure and the same Foreign National visitor procedures that is outlined above for the Pre-Proposal-

Site-Visit to DOT.

Note: Because each contractor-company-representative and / or contractor-employee-worker will only ever be a same-day (one-day) visitor to the DOT Building, for, at most, the one-day of the Pre-Proposal-

Site-Visit, and for the one-day-Catering-event itself (DOT Secretary’s Awards Ceremony), and, perhaps, for any additional (and few) one-day-meetings with DOT personnel that might also be needed—such same-day (one-day)-visitors will not have to undergo any background check, and each such person will instead simply be signed in as a DOT-visitor, and will not need to receive a DOT contractor badge.

Requirement for a UEI-Number: This Quote-Request’s (solicitation’s) selected Purchase-

Order-awardee-company must possess a valid UEI-number issued to the firm by the System for Award

Management (SAM.gov) Federal-procurement-website, to be able to receive this Solicitation’s resulting

Purchase Order document. And DOT’s electronic-procurement-system known as “Prism”—not to be confused with prison—will not allow DOT to award a Purchase Order unless and until the intended awardee-company has been issued a valid UEI number by the SAM.gov system. (It is the contracting officer’s understanding that the acronym “UEI” stands for something like “Universal Entity Identifier”.)

Regarding the needed timing of possession of a valid UEI-number, this Solicitation sets a cut-off-date

(deadline) of 11:30 PM Eastern Time March 29th, 2026—which DOT hereby reserves the right to extend, but only in DOT’s sole discretion and only upon DOT’s determination that granting an extension would be in the best interests of DOT and the taxpayers. Prospective offerors lacking a UEI number are strongly advised to start early—meaning now—in applying, through the SAM.gov system, to receive an assigned UEI number, because a large and growing body of empirical evidence suggests that obtaining a

UEI number can be an epic IT-adventure.

Scope of Competition: Subject to DOT’s small-business-preference expressed in the next paragraph, this Quote-Request (solicitation) is full-and-open-competitive.

DOT’s Small Business Preference: DOT does hereby reserve—and DOT hopes to be able to exercise—its right to award this Solicitation’s resulting Fixed-Price Purchase Order to a small business in the event that DOT hereafter determines that this Solicitation’s strongest-and-most-competitive proposal happens to have been submitted by a small business, or in the event that the firms inside this Solicitation’s strongest-and-most-competitive set of resulting proposals are in DOT’s judgment essentially tied with each other in competitiveness and that only one proposal in that most-competitive set happens to have been submitted by a small businesses, or in the event that DOT hereafter finds any other rational basis for awarding this Solicitation’s resulting Purchase Order to a small-business-offeror via a selection-process not inconsistent with this Solicitation’s Evaluation Criteria given below.

Small Business Size-Standard: The NAICS Code for this procurement is 722320, and that

NAICS Code’s associated small-business-size-standard is $9,000,0000. Accordingly, and to qualify as a small business, an offeror-company submitting a proposal to DOT in response to this Solicitation must have annual average gross revenues of less than $9,000,000, as determined under the business-year-revenue-averaging-rules specified in applicable SBA-regulations. It is the contracting officer’s understanding that those SBA regulations would classify, as a small-business, any offeror-company whose average annual gross revenues, as computed over the company’s five-most-recently-completed company-business-years, are less than $9,000,000. But any prospective offeror-company that is able cite any specific SBA-regulations refining or contradicting the contracting-officer’s small-business-revenue-understanding expressed above, is asked to please do so by sending an e-mail to james.mowery@dot.gov by March 8th, 2026. Each offeror is asked to please state, on the front-page of its proposal submitted to

DOT in response to this Solicitation: (A) The offeror-company’s average annual gross-revenue-dollar-figure as computed over the offeror-company’s five most-recently-completed company-business-years;

and (B) The offeror-company’s best good-faith-assessment as to whether the company is, or is not, a small-business under this Solicitation’s specified NAICS Code, 722320.

Scope of Work: This Solicitation seeks Fixed-Price proposals for one and only one resulting Fixed-

Price Purchase Order for the performance of the catering-project mentioned in the title displayed above and described more fully in the Statement of Work set forth below.

Licensing / Certification Requirements applicable to this Solicitation’s Offeror-Companies, and also applicable to this Solicitation’s resulting Contract-Awardee-

Company:

A. Because the DOT Building is a Federal enclave, there is no requirement for any District-of-Columbia-issued: (A) Catering License; or (B) Catering Certification; or (C) Kitchen-

License; or (D) Kitchen-Certification; or (E) Food-Handling-License; or (F) Food-Handling-

Certification; or (G) Food-Serving License; or (H) Food-Serving Certification. However:

B. Each Bidder-Company (Offeror-Company), and this Solicitation’s resulting contract-awardee company, must possess, and must include in its proposal submitted to DOT in response to this Solicitation, some form of Catering-license or Catering-certification issued to that company by the District of Columbia or by Maryland or by

Virginia or by some other American State or local governmental entity having jurisdiction over the offeror-firm; and

C. Further, each Bidder-company (Offeror-company) and this Solicitation’s resulting contract-awardee-company, must have, and must include in its proposal submitted to DOT in response to this Solicitation, a licensed-or-certified-by-some-American-governmental-entity Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM) (who must be onsite at DOT for the Secretary’s Awards Ceremony); and

D. And each offeror-company must also include, in the firm’s Quote / Proposal submitted to DOT in response to this Quote-Request / Solicitation, a copy of a most recent Health Department Permit issued to the offeror-firm by an

American State or local governmental entity having jurisdiction over the firm. (Such a Health Department Permit is necessary to ensure that the

Bidder-Company’s (Offeror-company’s) Catering-kitchen meets sanitation standards.); and

E. All non-Managerial food-service-handler-workers, and all non-Managerial kitchen-workers, deployed by this Solicitation’s resulting Catering-contract-awardee-firm, for the Secretary’s

Awards Ceremony, must possess a food-service-handler license or certification, or must possess a kitchen-worker license or certification—which must be issued by the District of

Columbia (D.C.) or else issued by some other State or local governmental entity having jurisdiction over the Catering-offeror-company and over the Catering-contract-awardee-firm.

(Although anecdotal evidence suggests that one or more such types of licenses or certifications might be known, perhaps colloquially, as “Serv-Safe” licenses or certifications, this Solicitation places, on each particular offeror-company, and on this Solicitation’s resulting contract-awardee-company, the burden of having, and of including in the company’s proposal submitted to DOT in response to this Solicitation, licenses and / or certifications which fully-satisfy the requirements expressed in the preceding sentence of this paragraph “E”.)

PROPOSAL-PRICING-SUPPORT

https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3DHealth%2BDepartment%2BPermit%26rlz%3D1C1GCEA_enUS1152US1152%26oq%3Dlicensure%2Bfor%2Bcatering%26gs_lcrp%3DEgZjaHJvbWUqCAgBEAAYFhgeMgYIABBFGDkyCAgBEAAYFhgeMggIAhAAGBYYHjIICAMQABgWGB4yCAgEEAAYFhgeMg0IBRAAGIYDGIAEGIoFMg0IBhAAGIYDGIAEGIoFMg0IBxAAGIYDGIAEGIoF0gEIODY2NmowajeoAgCwAgA%26sourceid%3Dchrome%26ie%3DUTF-8%26mstk%3DAUtExfD5ab-UPHVI8rD92E0V0Bhcc31b77dh9KpYOOIsR12qE3DYA9cUroLkv_MEs8QE0v6-_vUf6FGwYD74tTrpSMei_wS_TNvlHrDtYysoMJqyQZ3Th6zC1FJEfC9FuC8EE5EEHBKQ5OnYhXvF-KS1c6P5oHGid1oxobjgliPWv_Y0zG8%26csui%3D3%26ved%3D2ahUKEwj7zOT70IOTAxXiGjQIHeJoOyYQgK4QegQIAxAD&data=05%7C02%7CJames.Mowery%40dot.gov%7C41c2c46bdd1040de72c008de792e0432%7Cc4cd245b44f04395a1aa3848d258f78b%7C0%7C0%7C639081435744847709%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=yRyhtjMC%2BZqk%2F4%2B9Qm2KLlFcpW%2FqdMcDiLWoyGqKcGs%3D&reserved=0

Each offeror is asked to please provide, as the first sentence in the offeror’s Cost Proposal submitted to DOT in response to this Solicitation, the following confirmation:

“[State, here, the name of the offeror-company] hereby certifies that its Cost Proposal for catering-services to be provided at DOT’s 58th Annual Awards Ceremony is in full compliance with all applicable U. S. Department of Labor (DOL) Wage Determinations and all other applicable DOL rules and regulations.”

This Solicitation’s contracting officer has decided to not require any offeror to display or otherwise support, in its Cost Proposal submitted to DOT in response to this Solicitation, any of the following: un-loaded-hourly-pay-rates for the contractor’s staff-members; overhead rates; fringe benefits rates; general

& administrative expense rates; profit rates. The contracting officer instead intends to rely on the competitive-feature of this Solicitation, and on the fact that the catering services contemplated in this

Solicitation are arguably commercial services.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

DOT is not imposing any maximum-page-length on any offeror’s proposal submitted to DOT in response to this Solicitation.

DOT is not imposing any minimum or maximum font-size for any offeror’s proposal submitted to DOT in response to this Solicitation; but DOT is of course insisting that each proposal’s font-size be large enough to be easily readable by DOT employees.

SECTION C------ STATEMENT OF WORK AND RELATED

ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS

U.S. Department of Transportation

Departmental Special Programs Office

Secretary’s 58th Annual Awards Ceremony

STATEMENT OF WORK

Catering Services – June 4, 2026, or June 11, 2026 (Date is contingent upon availability of S1 and will be confirmed no later than April 15, 2026)

1.0 OBJECTIVE

The objective of this Scope of Work is to provide light refreshments and floral arrangements for the U.S.

Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Secretary’s 58th Annual Awards Ceremony, which includes a

Special Awardee Recognition for approximately 50 people, and Reception for approximately 800-950 individuals to be held on June 4, 2026, or June 11, 2026, at the USDOT Headquarters in Washington, DC. (1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20590). The purpose of this event is to celebrate the distinguished recipients of the Secretary’s Annual Awards, the highest honor and award for DOT employees each year. DOT reserves the right to change the Catering-date by giving written (e-mailed) notice to this Solicitation’s resulting

Purchase Order awardee-company not later than April 15th, 2026.

2.0 DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES

The Contractor will prepare and deliver staff, food, utensils, labor, and other necessary equipment to execute a Special Awardee Recognition for approximately 50 people and a reception for 800-950 people, while maintaining a safe, clean, and healthy environment. Floral arrangements to complement the event will also be provided by the contractor.

3.0 DELIVERABLES

Provide labor, materials, and equipment to prepare and serve meals in accordance with this Statement of

Work and applicable industry and service-related regulations.

1. The Contractor shall be responsible for providing all subsistence and labor required to accomplish food preparation in accordance with this Statement of Work.

2. The Contractor shall use fresh ingredients. All food must be maintained at the proper temperatures to prevent food borne illness, during preparation, cooking, transport, serving, display, and during storage. No open flames are permitted within the USDOT buildings. Electric warmers can be used by the catering team if appropriate safety precautions are taken to avoid fire.

3. The Contractor shall provide all dishware, silverware, 31 white linen tablecloths (nine for the Special

Awardee Recognition and 22 for the Awards Ceremony Reception), and napkins, suitable for a

Secretarial event. The lunch-ware, utensils, and napkins may be disposable.

4. There will be no cooking or storage facilities available or provided for food processing.

5. Food and necessary cooking/refrigeration/heating or warming ovens/storage equipment must be transported from the Contractor's site to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

6. The U.S. Department of Transportation will provide indoor space with electricity, a small conference room without kitchen facilities or running water for preparation, and access to restrooms for appropriate hand washing.

7. All food served shall be wholesome and free from spoilage, free from adulteration and misbranding, and safe for human consumption. Uncooked items, such as fresh fruits, shall be clean and free from blemish.

8. All foods shall when served, be attractive and correct in temperature, color, taste, and consistency.

They shall be crisp, moist, dry, tender, etc., as may be appropriate in each case.

9. The Contractor is responsible for providing carts to transport items between locations within USDOT.

10. The USDOT can allow access to one loading dock bay for loading and unloading on the day of the event. All items will need to go through security screening. A maximum of three-four trucks/vans will be permitted to park in the assigned loading dock bay after unloading. Driver and vehicle information will need to be provided five business days in advance to Trina Redmond and Seasons Usual.

MENU REQUIREMENTS

1. Special Awardee Recognition

Room: TBD

Set-up Time: 11:30 a.m.

Event Time: 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

50 people (Buffet Style)

Pork Sliders 4 dozen

Crudité and Dip 25 people

Fruit and Cheese Display 35 people

Cookies\Bars 5 dozen

Bottled Beverages: Water\Soda\Juice 6 dozen

Upscale lunch ware, utensils, and napkins 50 each

2. Awards Ceremony Reception

Room: USDOT HQ East Atrium

Set-up Time: 12:00 p.m.

Event Time: 2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

800-950 people (Buffet style and passed hors d’oeuvres)

Sweet and Sour Meatballs 900 each

Spring Rolls – Vegetable 900 each

Pork Carnitas Taquito with Cilantro Lime 900 each

Chicken Fingers 200 each

Crudité and Dip 600 each

Fruit and Imported Cheese and Crackers 700 each

Thai Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce 850 each

Chilled Shrimp 30 pounds

Mini French Pastries and Petit Fours 900 each

Mini Maryland Style Crab Cakes 900 each

Mini Quiche Lorraine 800 each

Cookies/Bars/Dessert Tray 900 each

Fruit Punch in Dispenser 40 gallons

Water in Dispenser 40 gallons

Tablecloths (white, 120 inch, rounds) 22 mailto:trina.redmond@dot.gov mailto:seasons.usual@dot.gov

Upscale Plasticware, utensils, and napkins 800 each

STAFF REQUIREMENTS

1. The Contractor will provide sufficient staff to deliver, prepare, and serve the required meals. The contractor will clean and remove materials and leave the worksite in the condition it was provided.

USDOT dumpsters may be used to dispose of garbage. Sufficient staff is required to pass hors d’oeuvres, staff the buffet line, prepare and serve food, set up, maintain, and clean the worksite. Adequate staff is required to assist during meal service to ensure sufficient food is present, refreshed, and cleaned up in a timely manner.

2. All staff shall wear appropriate uniform for their function and the occasion.

3. This Statement of Work requires the awarded Contractor to provide a District of Columbia - licensed food service manager deployed onsite at USDOT for the entire duration of the Catering event contemplated in this Solicitation.

4. All non-managerial food-service-handler-workers deployed to this event must be District of Columbia

– licensed as food-service-handlers, and other support service employees must be qualified.

5. The Contractor shall furnish required Personal Protective Equipment, and properly supervise all site personnel. Safety is the highest priority for the Government. The Contractor shall direct all those under its charge to work safely and ensure they are not presenting symptoms of contagion.

6. At the conclusion of the event, all extra food should be consolidated by the caterer, left in the East

Atrium, and inform the COR where the items are located for USDOT staff to relocate.

Note: Five business days prior to the event, Contractor must provide a list of personnel, equipment, and vehicles requiring access to the U.S. Department of Transportation Headquarters Building. Personnel details must include a copy of national ID or other valid government identification. The contractor will be provided with an Excel template for submitting details. Anyone who is not a USDOT employee will always require an escort while in the facility.

CEREMONY FLORAL ARRANGEMENT REQUIREMENTS

Rooms: DOT HQ West and East Atrium

Set-up Time: 9:30 a.m.

Event Time: 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Large (14”-16” wide) white floral arrangements with Red and Blue Pot Covers 10 (West Atrium stage)

(mums, tulips, daisies, lilies, carnations)

Large Centerpieces 2 (East Atrium)

One-Sided Arrangements 2 (East Atrium)

4.0 PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

USDOT’s Headquarters in Washington, DC. (1200 New Jersey, Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20590)

● Special Awardee Recognition - TBD

● Ceremony Reception – DOT HQ East Atrium

● Floral Arrangements – DOT HQ West and East Atrium

Note: Prior to submission of proposals, prospective offerors may do a pre-proposal site-visit, at the US

Department of Transportation, on Tuesday, March 17, 2026 from 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM. Each such site-visit-desiring company is limited to two representatives. Subject to the right reserved by DOT in the next sentence, each firm potentially interested in this Catering project is strongly advised to send, by 11:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time on

March 12, 2026, an e-mail to all of the USDOT contacts listed in this Solicitation, specifying the names of that company’s planned USDOT-site-visit-attending persons.

However, DOT hereby reserves the right to consider visitor-name-notices sent to DOT after 11:30 PM EDT

March 12th, 2026, to the extent that any such late-visitor-name-notice(s) appear—in DOT’s sole judgement and sole discretion—to be processable by

DOT in time for the scheduled March 17th Site Visit.

5.0 PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

Thursday, May 7, 2026 - Friday, June 19, 2026.

The ceremony is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, June 4, 2026. The alternate date is Thursday, June

11, 2026. The U.S. Department of Transportation will confirm the ceremony date no later than

Wednesday, April 15, 2026 and adjust due dates as necessary.

The day prior to the ceremony, (approximately 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.) The Contractor must be available for a Pre-ceremony walkthrough at the U.S. Department of Transportation to discuss logistics and any questions the Contractor has prior to the next day’s ceremony. The Contractor may begin set-up of non-perishables.

Thursday, June 4, 2026 or Thursday, June 11, 2026 (approximately 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.). All work shall be completed, and deliverables submitted and ready for display on Thursday, June 4, 2026 or Thursday, June 11, 2026. Items for consumption shall be ready at the indicated start times stated in this statement of work and attendants shall support the reception and clean-up until approximately 4:30 p.m. or 5:00 p.m.

6.0 PAYMENT INFORMATION

Payment shall be made by purchase order via federal credit card.

7.0 CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION – CONTACT INFORMATION

Trina Redmond, trina.redmond@dot.gov (COR)

8.0 EVALUATION CRITERIA

mailto:trina.redmond@dot.gov

DOT will evaluate proposals based upon the following evaluation factors:

Criterion 1:

Technical Plan

The plan will be assessed based on the offeror's compliance with USDOT’s specifications and thoroughness of the plan for food and floral arrangements.

Criterion 2:

Past Performance

Each Offeror shall identify and provide contact information for a minimum of three (3) references for past events, preferably federal agencies, where they have provided similar scope of services within the past 3-5 years. The quality, dependability, timeliness, and customer-relations provided by the offeror company during the events detailed in these references must be well documented.

USDOT does explicitly reserve the right not only to directly contact the offeror’s past performance references, but also the right to look beyond the offeror’s past performance references and to consider any additional past performance information available to, or obtainable by, USDOT.

Criterion 3:

Experience

Each Offeror shall expand on its relevant experience in catering for events comparable to the one called for in this Solicitation, including the quality, quantity, and calendar-length-of-time of the offeror’s company and staff.

Criterion 4:

Pricing

The offeror’s grand total proposed Fixed-Price for the catering-project contemplated in this Solicitation.

Each criterion is weighted equally.

The Government may elect to award to other than the lowest price Offeror or other than the highest technically rated offeror. The Government reserves the right of flexibility in conducting the evaluation as necessary to assure an award with the Offeror providing the best value to the government.

Evaluation Categories

Excellent - (Acceptable) The Offeror has demonstrated that there is a high probability of success in a combination of past results, low risk, and professional distribution of services.

Good - (Acceptable) The Offeror has demonstrated that there is a good probability of success in a combination of past results, moderate risk, and professional distribution of services.

Fair - (Unacceptable) The Offeror has demonstrated that there is marginal probability of success in a combination of past results, high risk, and professional distribution of services.

Poor - (Unacceptable)

The Offeror has not demonstrated that there is a probability of success in this services-based effort.

Note A: DOT will not use adjectival ratings in evaluating each offeror’s Pricing Proposal / Cost

Proposal, since an offeror’s total proposed price is, by definition, a quantitative value.

Note B: DOT intends to use a Best Buy / Best Value approach in selecting this Solicitation’s winning offeror. Accordingly, this Solicitation’s resulting Purchase Order will not necessarily be awarded to the lowest-totally-priced offeror, and will not necessarily be awarded to the offeror whose proposal attained the highest overall standing on this Solicitation’s Technical (i.e., non-pricing) factors.

Note C: In DOT’s Selection of this Solicitation’s winning Proposal, the overall Technical (i.e., non-

Pricing) standings attained by the various offeror-companies will be more important than the offeror-companies’ total proposed prices for this project. But the offeror-companies’ total proposed prices will, nevertheless, be very important in DOT’s selection of the winning offeror.

9.0 PROPOSAL-PRICING-SUPPORT

Each offeror is asked to please provide, as the first sentence in the offeror’s Cost Proposal submitted to DOT in response to this Solicitation, the following confirmation:

“[State, here, the name of the offeror-company] hereby certifies that its Cost Proposal for catering-services to be provided at DOT’s 56th Annual Awards Ceremony is in full compliance with all applicable U. S. Department of Labor (DOL) Wage Determinations and all other applicable DOL rules and regulations.”

This Solicitation’s contracting officer has decided to not require any offeror to display or otherwise support, in its Cost Proposal submitted to DOT in response to this Solicitation, any of the following: un-loaded-hourly-pay-rates for the contractor’s staff-members; overhead rates; fringe benefits rates; general

& administrative expense rates; profit rates. The contracting officer instead intends to rely on the competitive-feature of this Solicitation, and on the fact that the catering services contemplated in this

Solicitation are arguably commercial services.

10.0 OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

DOT is not imposing any maximum-page-length on any offeror’s proposal submitted to DOT in response to this Solicitation.

DOT is not imposing any minimum or maximum font-size for any offeror’s proposal submitted to DOT in response to this Solicitation; but DOT is of course insisting that each proposal’s font-size be large enough to be easily readable by DOT employees.

1. Type of Award

This Solicitation’s resulting award-document will probably be in the form a Purchase Order.

This Solicitation’s resulting award will definitely be a stand-alone FIXED-Price award.

2. Period of Performance

May 7, 2026 through Friday, June 19, 2026

3. Place of Performance

Department of Transportation Headquarters (DOTHQ)

1200 New Jersey Ave SE

Washington, DC 20590

4. Holidays and Administrative Leave

Any Contractor personnel working on Government premises shall observe the holidays listed below unless otherwise informed by the COR and/or designated Federal Task Lead:

New Year’s Day Labor Day

Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday Columbus Day

President’s Day Veteran’s Day

Memorial Day Thanksgiving Day

Juneteenth National Independence Day Christmas Day

Independence Day

When any such day falls on a Saturday, the preceding Friday is observed; when any such day falls on Sunday, the following Monday is observed.

In addition to the days designated as holidays, the Government observes the following days:

Any other day designated by Federal Statute

Any other day designated by Executive Order

Any other day designated by a President's Proclamation

Any other Federal Emergency proclamation

Government Building Closure:

Government closures may occur during the contract performance period as a result of

Executive Order, Office of Personnel Management direction or other form of Federal proclamation. These closures are often due to inclement weather, potentially hazardous conditions or other special circumstances. Closures or delays of this nature during the performance period do not entitle the Contractor to additional compensation or to an automatic period of performance extension.

In the event of a government building closure, the Government may require specific contractor staff to be on site at the facility if they are deemed essential personnel. The essential personnel and/or job functions are at the discretion of the COR who will also provide guidance on Federal oversight.

5. Certifications, Training and Travel

This Solicitation’s resulting Purchase Order awardee-company must possess a current and valid license, issued by the District of Columbia (Washington, D. C.) to perform catering services, of the type described in this Solicitation, in Washington, D. C.

DOT will not provide any parking or Travel to any pre-proposal or post-proposal DOT-site-visiting-company, or to any such company’s representatives. DOT also will not provide parking or Travel to any of the contractor’s personnel or staff-members who provide or supervise or prepare for the Catering Services which are provided to DOT under this

Solicitation’s resulting Purchase Order.

6. Government Furnished Property/Information None

7. Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR)

COR: Ms. Trina Redmond,DOT

Email: Trina.Redmond@dot.gov

8. CONTRACT ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

CONTRACTING OFFICER (CO)

Only the Contracting Officer has authority to: (1) increase or decrease the contract amount; (2) direct or negotiate any changes; (3) modify or extend the period of performance; (4) change the schedule of completion; (5) authorize payment under this contract; (6) otherwise modify any terms or conditions of this contract.

The Contracting Officer for this contract is:

James H. Mowery III

U.S. Department of Transportation

Office of the Secretary

Senior Procurement Executive

Acquisition Services Division (M-63)

1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.

Washington, DC 20590

E-Mail Address: james.mowery@dot.gov

CONTRACTING OFFICER’S REPRESENTATIVE (COR)

Ms. Trina Redmond, who is designated below as this contract’s COR, shall administer the technical aspects of this contract and inspect services furnished hereunder. However, the COR shall not be authorized to change any terms and conditions of the resultant contract, including price. The COR is authorized to certify (but not to reject or deny) invoices for payment in accordance with enclosed payment terms. The authority to reject or deny performance and associated invoice payments is expressly reserved for the Contracting Officer.

END OF QUOTE-REQUEST (SOLICITATION)