RFP 693JK426R500002.pdf

RFP# 693JK426R500002

News Clip Services

U.S. Department of Transportation Office of the Secretary of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Ave, SE Washington DC 20590

5/18/2026

Subject: Request for Proposal - 693JK426R500002

Attn: Potential Offerors, The U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of the Secretary, Office of Public Affairs (OPA) is seeking a Contractor to provide News Clips Services in accordance with the attached Statement of Work.

This is a full-and-open-competitive requirement. The Request for Proposals, numbered is 693JK426R500002, for commercial items (“News Clips Services for DOT”), which was prepared by the U. S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s) Office of the Senior Procurement Executive in accordance with the format specified in FAR Subpart 12.6 - but which is supplemented with the additional information included in this notice.

Accordingly, this Solicitation, while pertaining fundamentally to commercial items (“News Clips Services for DOT”), also has certain features typically associated with FAR Part 15 acquisitions, including: (a) specified Evaluation Criteria; and (b) a specified “Best Value” selection-process, in which each offeror’s overall attained technical standing will be more important than the offeror’s total proposed price; and (c) a reserved right for DOT to establish a Competitive Range or a Limited Competitive Range pertaining to the proposals received by DOT in response to this Solicitation.

The DOT anticipates the award of a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract from this RFP. The resultant award shall consist of five years: one (1) base period and four (4) one year option periods. The basis for award is Best Value.

The NAICS Code 519190 - Other Information Services with a standard Small Business size of $25.5 million.

DOT invites your company to submit a proposal in accordance with your established rates for the above support Services.

Please submit questions by Friday, May 22, 2026, at noon EST. Proposal submissions are due no later than Thursday, June 11, 2026, at 10 AM EST via email to Melinda.Riddick@dot.gov with a cc copy to Robin.Golden@dot.gov. Please submit questions and proposal to the aforementioned email addresses.

Please reference: “RFQ: 693JK426R500002 (News Clip Services) mailto:Melinda.Riddick@dot.gov mailto:Robin.Golden@dot.gov

Thank you in advance for your interest in the Department of Transportation and its Programs.

Sincerely, Melinda Riddick, Contracting Officer Office of the Senior Procurement Executive

1. CONTRACT PRICING

Approximate/ Base Period: July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027:

CLIN Description of Services

Qty. Unit FIXED

Price Per

Lot

0001 DOT requires a monitoring service that will assess, summarize, and draw key insights from engineering or technical language typically found in a DOT working environment.

1 Lot $

0002 Provide eNews Print and internet Monitoring. 1 Lot $

Total FIXED Price for BASE Period, if ALL and

ONLY the above-listed LOTS are in fact

PROVIDED

Option Period One: July 1, 2027, through June 30, 2028:

CLIN Description of Services Qty. Unit FIXED

Lot

1001 Analyst Written Daily News Briefings 1 Lot $

1002 Provide eNews Print and internet Monitoring. 1 Lot $

1003 Provide Social Media Monitoring. 1 Lot $

1004 Provide Access to North American and US

Territory Media Databases.

1 Lot $

1005 Create an Analytics Tool for Tracking Progress and

Success of Media Campaigns.

1 Lot $

Total FIXED Price for OPTION Period ONE, if

ALL and ONLY the above-listed LOTS are in fact PROVIDED

Option Period Two: July 1, 2028, through June 30, 2029:

Price Per

Lot

2001 Analyst Written Daily News Briefings 1 Lot $

2002 Provide eNews Print and internet Monitoring. 1 Lot $

2003 Provide Social Media Monitoring. 1 Lot $

2004 Provide Access to North American and US

Territory Media Databases.

1 Lot $

2005 Create an Analytics Tool for Tracking Progress and

Success of Media Campaigns.

1 Lot $

Total FIXED Price for OPTION Period TWO, if

ALL and ONLY the above-listed LOTS are in

Option Period Three: July 1, 2029, through June 30, 2030:

Lot

3001 Analyst Written Daily News Briefings 1 Lot $

3002 Provide eNews Print and internet Monitoring. 1 Lot $

3003 Provide Social Media Monitoring. 1 Lot $

3004 Provide Access to North American and US

Territory Media Databases.

1 Lot $

3005 Create an Analytics Tool for Tracking Progress and

Success of Media Campaigns.

1 Lot $

Total FIXED Price for OPTION Period THREE, if ALL and ONLY the above-listed LOTS are in fact Provided

Option Period Four: July 1, 2030, through June 30, 2031:

Lot

4001 Analyst Written Daily News Briefings 1 Lot $

4002 Provide eNews Print and internet Monitoring. 1 Lot $

4003 Provide Social Media Monitoring. 1 Lot $

4004 Provide Access to North American and US

Territory Media Databases.

1 Lot $

4005 Create an Analytics Tool for Tracking Progress and

Success of Media Campaigns.

1 Lot $

Total FIXED Price for OPTION Period FOUR, if ALL and ONLY the above-listed LOTS are in

Grant Total:

Note: Offerors shall not include any overtime (OT) pricing in their proposed pricing for this News Clips project. Any potential overtime pricing and any potential overtime hours would be subject to COR-approval and would be reimbursed only if, when, and to the extent actually needed by DOT and actually provided to DOT by the contractor.

2. SUPPLIES OR SERVICES TO BE PROVIDED – STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW)

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), Office of the Secretary, Office of Public Affairs (OPA), requires a service that provides a media database; real-time monitoring and search capability of broadcast, online and social media; and the ability to track the success of media campaigns from each of those mediums. This service must allow users to have quick, easy access to information necessary to ensure effective communication of the Department’s missions to the public.

Additionally, in order to effectively guide the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Secretary and senior staff must start each day fully informed about important news on all transportation issues published and broadcast nationwide. OPA has the responsibility to provide the USDOT Secretary and Department and Agency leadership and staff with the latest analysis of what the media is reporting about Department-wide and Agency specific priorities, initiatives, and programs. OPA seeks contract support to provide succinct, categorized, in-depth daily news analysis of national and local media coverage to the leadership and staff of the Department and its agencies.

The USDOT OPA plans to be selective regarding the services requested to obtain the best price.

3. SCOPE OF SERVICES

The contractor must demonstrate systematic capabilities, staffing, and management experience to (a) aggregate news from national and regional print and broadcast media outlets; (b) apply human judgment in reviewing those stories to isolate information USDOT should be made aware of each morning; and (c) weave those story elements together into new multi-source stories that inform completely but in a fraction of the page count represented by the original full-text articles or broadcast transcripts. The contractor shall provide a team lead, who is in possession of at least a bachelor’s degree and at least 3-5 years of experience in aggregating news briefings. The contractor must be extremely flexible in its operations; able to change the types of stories included in the daily briefings, the length and format of the briefings, even the daily delivery time on short notice. The daily briefings will be produced by the contractor at its own site, delivered electronically to USDOT Monday through Sunday, excluding federal holidays and an extra day at Christmas and Thanksgiving.

The contractor shall provide an integrated database of journalists that allow the USDOT OPA to develop comprehensive media contact lists for markets, both large and small, across the United States to include the U.S. territories. This should include national and local, both traditional and new media, print, online, radio and broadcast. The contractor should also provide the ability to locate journalists based on keywords searches of their previously published articles or social media posts.

The contractor should also provide an integrated tool that allows the USDOT OPA to send out and track the receipt of press releases and media advisories.

The contractor should provide integrated Social media management tools: publishing, scheduling content, conversation analysis, and influencer engagement.

The contractor should also provide media monitoring capability for television, including local, national and cable outlets; online radio, print, blogs and microblogs, and social media entities; to include Twitter Firehose, Facebook, Blogs, Forums, and Youtube. News stories should be able to be shared without incurring copyright violations or fees. The contractor should also provide social media analysis, using graphs and charts to demonstrate the reach/coverage of the Department’s messages.

The Department should be able to search for coverage and create reports on coverage that may have occurred before the inception of the contract.

4. SCOPE OF SERVICES

Analyst Written Daily News Briefings:

TASKS

Task 1

Ability to staff a team of analysts that can publish two distinct briefings on deadlines, including:

• A 6:30 am briefing, written overnight by US citizen analysts, that distills news coverage of interest to DOT officials from the previous 24 hours and includes a Washington calendar noting the important events scheduled on that day;

• A 4:45 am briefing with a specific focus on highest level coverage to serve as the first read for the Secretary.

Task 2

Monitor, at a minimum, all the nation’s national and major regional/local newspapers; television news from the broadcast networks, major cable networks, and local television coverage in the top 210 DMA markets; major domestic news wires; appropriate specialty press; and appropriate online news sources (e.g. blogs); all for coverage of matters of potential interest to USDOT.

Task 3

Focus the briefings and the majority of the news included in them on USDOT and its core mission, supplemented by news about the 10 agencies within USDOT. More explicitly, use of expert analysts to:

i. Apply proven, extensive understanding of DOT’s mission and interests;

ii. Determine which aspects of each story, if any, are important to the various constituencies within DOT, including its modes FAA, FHA, FMCSA, FRA, FTA, Maritime Administration, NHTSA, PHMSA, and the Great Lakes St.

Lawrence Seaway Administration.

iii. Edit out all information (not stories, but parts of stories) that is redundant or irrelevant;

iv. For each topic in the briefing each day, weave the remaining (important) information together such that it reads like a single story rather than what it really is, subsets of myriad stories on the same topic;

v. Interweave news from all sources including online print and television;

vi. Characterize the coverage such that DOT officials can quickly get a sense for how widely various story elements were run and also for the general tonality of the coverage.

Task 4

Include a national news section highlighting major news of the day on topics not directly related to transportation issues but nonetheless helpful to USDOT and agency officials from the standpoint of general awareness.

Task 5

Provide flexibility on topics of focus for briefings.

Task 6

Not rely exclusively on “keyword” searching of electronic databases. The contractor must use human surveillance of print and electronic sources to identify stories of potential interest to USDOT and its agencies even if those stories do not use keyword combinations that would identify them as such to a computer.

Task 7

Ensure each briefing is current; based on stories appearing that morning in the nation’s newspapers and broadcast in the preceding 24 hours by the nation’s national and local television news outlets.

Task 8

Capture national and television news as it is broadcast. USDOT and its agencies are interested in news as it is broadcast to the public, not in stories appearing on the websites of media outlets that may not have ever aired. For broadcast stories in which reviewing the actual audio/video would be particularly useful, the vendor will provide a link to available “video clips” that stream to the reader’s desktop.

Task 9

For each story write-up, identify each source publication, author, and date and include a hypertext link to the full-length story on the Internet when available.

Task 10

Organize each briefing by story and subject, and include a customized index divided by subject matter in printable form for distribution.

Task 11

Provide an IP-protected website that can be accessed by USDOT and its agency employees without requiring usernames or passwords; support by email notification. The site shall include a searchable archive of the briefing documents as well as PDF and Word versions for easy printing.

Task 12

Provide full access to the daily briefings on mobile devices, including but not limited to iPhone®, Android® and Windows®.

Task 13

Provide searchable access to an archive of USDOT’s briefing dating back to February 2010.

Task 14

Provide a dedicated client manager with at least a bachelor’s degree and at least 3-5 years of previous experience in aggregating news briefings to handle service, distribution, editorial and technical questions.

Task 15

Provide 24/7/365 live availability of key contractor staff to accommodate late breaking requests and to provide urgent customer support needs after normal business hours.

Task 16

Provide access to a database that shows the open rate of different briefings and the click rate of different articles within those briefings.

eNews Print and Internet Monitoring:

Task 1. The contractor shall provide a tool that monitors at least 4,500+ print publications in text format.

Task 2. The contractor shall provide eNews North American media monitoring from at least

20,000+ internet and online print.

Task 3. The contractor shall provide information from online broadcast, news related websites.

Task 4. The contractor shall provide unlimited articles and search folders.

Task 5. The contractor shall provide text only with URL for online content.

Social Media Monitoring Capability:

Task 1. The contractor shall monitor blogs, microblogs, and forums and social media entities; to include but not limited to Twitter Firehose, Facebook, and Youtube.

Task 2. The contractor shall capture data in real time and deliver it to a dashboard, integrated with traditional monitoring coverage.

Task 3. The contractor shall set up email alerts and search terms, sort coverage dynamically, filter results by country and media type, analyze and compare volume of coverage, score the quality of engagements, rate influential sites, easily share reports and coverage with key stakeholders, and more.

Task 4. Upon request, the contractor shall produce reports on social media coverage of specific campaigns including conversation analysis and influencer engagement.

North American Media Database:

Task 1. The contractor shall provide access to North American and US Territory Media Databases.

Task 2. The contractor shall provide the ability to send press releases and media advisories to targeted media lists.

Task 3. The contractor should provide the ability to track open rates, click through rates and bounce backs to help the USDOT be more targeted in follow-up.

Task 4. The contractor shall ensure the media database remains current and up to date. The contractor shall not rely on technology alone to keep the media database up to date. The contractor shall employ human analysts to ensure accuracy of the media database.

Task 5. The contractor will provide training on their systems.

Analytics Tool for Tracking Progress and Success of Media Campaigns:

Task 1. The contractor shall create charts, graphs, and DMA maps with selected coverage to determine campaign publicity values, tone and frequency.

Task 2. The contractor should provide Validated reach statistics so that USDOT can understand the actual amount of people that have read USDOT content. Along with validated reach, the contractor shall provide demographic and firmographic details of the earned media audience.

Task 3. The contractor shall provide the ability to generate graphics that compare current and historic coverage.

Task 4. The contractor shall provide tone of coverage.

Real-time Monitoring, E-mail Alerts, and ability to clip for Realtime Broadcast Media:

Task 1. This service will provide the ability to search, track and view content in a number of common video formats (Windows Media, MPEG, QuickTime) in either broadcast (HD/UHD/4K) quality resolution for a period after broadcast. USDOT users require the ability to set automatic email alerts, perform keyword searches, and email clips to colleagues.

Task 2. A comprehensive web-based television search engine application licensed to end-user and available 24 hours a day and seven days per week.

Task 3. Searchable full-motion video (30 frames per second) at bit rates of 240 kbps or higher.

Task 4. Real-time integration of Nielsen's estimated audience size and publicity values. A report building tool for building web pages to include cumulative sums of audience estimates and publicity value.

Task 5. The ability to download HD resolution in all video markets and full broadcast quality (HD/UHD/4K) clips in selected markets.

Task 6. Immediate access to a broadcast content catalog that includes real-time radio stations (i.e. NPR, Bloomberg, WABC, WCBS, POTUS).and podcasts.

Task 7. Broadcast TV, radio, and podcast clips include transcripts with the capability to save and edit the clips and create a report on coverage.

5. DELIVERABLES

The contractor shall provide the following deliverables as follows:

DELIVERABLES / SOW

REFERENCE

Tasks Delivery Dates

Analyst Written Daily News Briefings

Tasks 1 - 16 Daily eNews Print and Internet Monitoring

Tasks 1 - 5 Ongoing

Social Media Monitoring Capability

Tasks 1 - 4 Ongoing

North American Media Database Tasks 1 - 4 Updated regularly/as journalists move or update their information.

Analytics Tool for Tracking Progress and Success of Media Campaigns

Tasks 1 - 4 Ongoing

Real-time monitoring and E-mail alerts for real-time broadcast media

Tasks 1 -7 Ongoing

6. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE –

Anticipated dates

Base Year: July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027 Base Year: July 1, 2027, through June 30, 2028 Base Year: July 1, 2028, through June 30, 2029 Base Year: July 1, 2029, through June 30, 2030 Base Year: July 1, 2030, through June 30, 2031 Base Year: July 1, 2031, through June 30, 2032

7. PLACE OF DELIVERY/SERVICE:

The contractor shall perform services electronically, off of any Government-premises.

8. CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION

8.1 CONTRACTING OFFICER

The CO is the only individual who can legally commit or obligate the Government for the expenditure of public funds. Only the contracting officer has authority to: (1) increase or decrease the award 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 PO; and (6) otherwise modify any terms or conditions of this Contract.

Contracting Officer Melinda Riddick 202-366-7058 Melinda.Riddick@dot.gov

8.2 CONTRACTING OFFICER REPRESENTATIVE

The COR has the responsibility to inspect all deliverables and services and authorization to certify (but not to reject or deny) invoices for payment. The authority to reject an invoice or assess deductions on an invoice is expressly reserved for the CO. The technical administration of this contract shall not be construed to authorize the revision of the terms and conditions of this contract. Any such revision shall be authorized in writing by the CO.

The following individual is: TBD

Office of Public Affairs 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Room W93-502 Washington, DC 20590

The CO is the only individual who can legally commit or obligate the Government for the expenditure of public funds. The technical administration of this contract shall not be construed to authorize the revision of the terms and conditions of this contract. Any such revision shall be authorized in writing by the CO.

9. CONTRACTOR’S REPRESENTATIVE / POINT OF CONTACT

To be contacted for all contract administration matters:

Name: TBD Telephone: TBD Email:

The contractor's representative shall be responsible for all contract administration issues and shall act as the central point of contact with the Government for all such issues. The representative shall have full authority to act for the contractor in all contractual matters. The representative shall be able to fluently read, write, and speak the English language.

Key Personnel:

The contractor shall provide and maintain in the spaces below the names and phone numbers of key personnel performing under the terms and conditions of the contract. When contractor's first available key personnel selection becomes unavailable to render services, the contract is responsible for providing a back-up with equal or greater knowledge and experience as identified in the contract.

Name: TBD Telephone: TBD Email:

10. PERSONNEL REQUIREMENT

It is the policy of the DOT to maintain a drug-free workplace.

11. FOREIGN NATIONALS AS CONTRACTOR EMPLOYEES

Each employee of the Contractor shall be a citizen of the United States of America, or an alien who has been lawfully admitted for permanent residence as evidenced by Alien Registration Receipt Card

Form I-151, or who presents other evidence from the "U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that employment will not affect his/her immigration status.

12. GOVERNMENT FURNISHED EQUIPMENT

DOT will furnish, to the contractor, any and all access, to DOT’s IT-system(s) and equipment, which is needed by the contractor for the performance of the contract awarded from this Solicitation. Any anticipated use of Government furnished telecommunications and/ or information systems and or access to Government telecommunications rooms or closets must be identified and agreed to in writing by the Government. To the extent that specific use of such IT systems and such equipment is not identified in the contract awarded from this Solicitation, it shall be assumed, in the absence of any contract-modification, that the Contractor can perform the services provided under the contract without use of government furnished telecommunications and information systems and related equipment. Any approved use of Government furnished telecommunications and information systems and equipment (including telephones, fax machines, computers, modems, networks, Internet and other installed software) shall be used for transaction of DOT official business only. DOT telecommunications and information systems are subject to security-monitoring at all times. Use of these systems constitutes consent to security monitoring.

13. OPERATIONS DURING GOVERNMENT HOLIDAYS

All Government offices are closed, except for minimum essential personnel required for in-house operations, during Federal holidays. Except as otherwise specified, the Contractor shall not schedule routine work on Federal holidays. When such holidays fall on a Saturday, the preceding Friday will be considered a holiday. When such holidays fall on a Sunday, the succeeding Monday will be considered a holiday. The ten Federal holidays per year are as follows:

New Year’s Day 1st Day of January

Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday 3rd Monday of January

President’s Day 3rd Monday of February

Memorial Day Last Monday of May

Juneteenth Day 19th day of June

Independence Day 4th day of July

Labor Day First Monday of September

Columbus Day Second Monday of October

Veteran’s Day 11th day of November

Thanksgiving Day Fourth Thursday of November

Christmas Day 25th day of December

14. SECTION 508 COMPLIANCE

A. This solicitation includes electronic and information technology (EIT) which is subject to the requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. § 794d). Section 508 requires Federal agencies acquiring EIT to ensure that Federal employees and members of the public with disabilities have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access and use available individuals without disabilities.

B. All EIT products and services procured under this contract must meet the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board's (the Access Board's) Electronic and Information Technology (EIT) Accessibility Standards (36 CFR part 1194), listed below, at time of delivery to the Government. The full text of the accessibility standards is available at http://www.section508.gov/.

C. Section 508 standards that are determined to apply are based in part on EIT requirements characterized using the Buy Accessible Wizard Provision based on definite EIT requirements that are identified by a "yes" in the applicable column. Provisions based on possible EIT requirements are identified by a "maybe" in the applicable column. However, if your product or services deliverable has physical or functional characteristics corresponding to any of the listed EIT accessibility requirements, even those beyond identified program requirements, then the requirement applies and you should provide appropriate accessibility information.

Applicable Section 508 standards for this contract are as follows:

-Section 1194.21 -Software Applications and Operating Systems.

-Section 1194.22- Web Based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications.

-Section 1194.24- Video and Multimedia Products.

-Section 1194.31 - Functional Performance Criteria.

-Section 1194.41 - Information, Documentation and Support.

D. The standards do not require the installatio n of specific accessibility-related software or the attachment of an assistive technology device(s), but merely require that the EIT be compatible with such software and device(s) so that it can be made accessible if so required in the future.

E. The contractor may propose products or services that use designs or technologies that do not meet the applicable accessibility standards but provide substantially equivalent or greater access to use of a product by individuals with disabilities; this is known as equivalent facilitation (see 36 CFR Section 1194.5). The Government shall evaluate whether products or services meet the applicable standards through equivalent facilitation and if so, the products or services that offer equivalent facilitation will be considered along with those that strictly meet the applicable standards.

F. All EIT developed, acquired, maintained, or used under this contract shall comply with applicable section 508 standards.

15. SECURITY

The Contractor shall be required to successfully complete a DOT background investigation, determined by the Security Programs Officer prior to accessing DOT information technology systems. The Contractor shall also be required to sign a “Non-Disclosure Agreement” subsequent to the award of the call order.

16. ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The Contractor warrants that, to the best of the Contractor's knowledge and belief, there are no relevant facts or circumstances which could give rise to an Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI). FAR Subpart 9.5 defines OCI as "Organizational and Consultants Conflicts of Interest.

The Contractor agrees that if an actual or potential organizational conflict of interest is discovered after award, the Contractor shall make a full disclosure in writing to the Contracting Officer. This disclosure shall include a description of actions, which the Contractor has taken or proposes to take, after consultation with the Contracting Officer, to avoid, mitigate, or neutralize the actual or potential conflict.

The Contracting Officer may terminate this contract for convenience, in whole or in part, if he deems such termination was necessary to avoid an organizational conflict of interest. If the Contractor was aware of a potential organizational conflict of interest prior to award or discovered an actual or potential conflict after award and did not disclose or misrepresented relevant information to the Contacting Office, the Government may terminate the contract for default, debar the Contractor from Government contracting, or pursue other remedies that may be permitted by law under the resultant contract.

The Contractor shall include this information as a flow down clause in all subcontracts and in lower tier subcontracts unless a waiver is requested from, and granted by, the Contracting Officer.

17. INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE

Inspection and Acceptance shall be subject to:

FAR 52.246-4 Inspection of Services-Fixed Price (AUG 1996)

18. PAYMENT

The vendor shall be paid in accordance with FAR 52.212-4 (i).

19. SUBMISSION OF INVOICES

(a) Definitions. As used in this clause—

(1) Contract financing payment has the meaning given in FAR 32.001.

(2) Payment request means a bill, voucher, invoice, or request for contract financing payment or invoice payment with associated supporting documentation. The payment request must comply with the requirements identified in FAR 32.905(b), “Content of Invoices,” this clause, and the applicable Payment clause included in this contract.

(3) Electronic form means an automated system transmitting information electronically according to the accepted electronic data transmission methods and formats identified in paragraph (c) of this clause. Facsimile, email, and scanned documents are not acceptable electronic forms for submission of payment requests.

(4) Invoice payment has the meaning given in FAR 32.001.

(b) ELECTRONIC PAYMENT REQUESTS. Except as provided in paragraph (e) of this clause, the contractor shall submit payment requests in electronic form. Purchases paid with a Governmentwide commercial purchase card are considered to be an electronic transaction for purposes of this rule, and therefore no additional electronic invoice submission is required.

(c) The Department of Transportation utilizes the Delphi eInvoicing web-portal for processing invoices.

For vendors submitting invoices, and certain grantees submitting payment requests, they will be required to submit invoices to OST electronically via the Delphi eInvoicing web-portal which is accessed via https://einvoice.esc.gov, and is authenticated via www.login.gov. All persons accessing the Delphi eInvoicing web-portal will be required to have their own unique user Delphi eInvoicing ID and be credentialed through login.gov. See www.login.gov for instructions.

(d) In order to receive payment and in accordance with the Prompt Payment Act, all invoices submitted as attachments in the Delphi eInvoicing web-portal shall contain the following:

(1) Invoice number and invoice date.

(2) Period of performance covered by invoice.

(3) Contract number and title.

(4) Task/Delivery Order number and title (if applicable).

(5) Amount billed (by CLIN), current and cumulative.

(6) Total ($) of billing.

(7) Cumulative total billed for all contract work to date.

(8) Name, title, phone number, and mailing address of person to be contacted in the event of a defective invoice.

If the contract includes allowances for travel, all invoices which include charges pertaining to travel expenses will catalog a breakdown of reimbursable expenses with the appropriate receipts to substantiate the travel expenses.

(e) PAYMENT SYSTEM REGISTRATION. All persons accessing the Delphi eInvoicing web-portal will be required to have their own unique user Delphi eInvoicing ID and password and be credentialed through login.gov.

(1) ELECTRONIC AUTHENTICATION. See www.login.gov for instructions. Click on the following link for instructions on establishing a login.gov account: https://login.gov/help/.

(2) To create a login.gov account, the user will need a valid email address and a working phone number.

The user will create a password and then login.gov will reply with an email confirming the email address.

(3) Agency POC’s will be responsible for communicating with vendor POC’s to initiate the Delphi eInvoicing account creation process. Vendor POC’s who will require access to the eInvoicing web-portal for invoice submission and payment tracking purposes will be required to provide their full name, valid email address, and current phone number to the agency POC to initiate the Delphi eInvoicing web-portal account. Vendor users and the agency POC will be notified via e-mail when the account is created. The vendor user will be provided detailed instructions for logging into their Delphi eInvoicing account.

https://einvoice.esc.gov/ http://www.login.gov/ https://login.gov/help/

The Gov’t POC is:

Omarr Lee

Omarr.Lee@dot.gov

If the Vendor has any general questions or issues accessing the iSupplier web-portal, please have them contact the ESC iSupplier helpdesk either at:

1. https://einvoice.esc.gov/

2. Call Delphi helpdesk at 1-866-641-3500, option #4, then option #3

(4) Training on Delphi. To facilitate use of DELPHI, comprehensive user information is available at http://einvoice.esc.gov.

(5) ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT. Vendors are responsible to contact the Delphi Help Desk when their firm’s points of contacts will no longer be submitting invoices so they can be removed from the system.

Instructions for contacting the Delphi Help Desk can be found at http://einvoice.esc.gov.

OST vendors shall submit invoices to OST electronically via the Delphi eInvoicing web-portal. To initiate this process, you are requested to provide OST with information (company name, contract/task order number/purchase order (PO) number, and up to two Point of Contact (POC) full names and their email addresses) as shown on the table below.

Company

Name

Contract

#/ Task

Order #

Primary

POC

First

Name

Primary

POC

Last

Name

Primary

POC

email

Secondary

POC First

Name

Secondary

POC Last

Name

Secondary

POC

email

Email the above information to the following email address: Omarr.Lee@dot.gov.

Please note that the POCs you provide are the individuals you authorize to submit invoices to OST on behalf of your company. Your POCs will then receive a welcome letter from Delphi eInvoicing processing center with instructions on creating a Login.gov user account. This account can then be used to access the eInvoicing web-portal at http://einvoice.esc.gov.

The Vendor shall contact their COR when POCs leave their organization or will no longer be submitting invoices, with the full name, title, phone number, e-mail address, and user ID of the POC. The user ID will then be removed. If a user ID becomes inactive/times out due no activity by the POC, the Vendor shall contact their COR with the full name, title, phone number, e-mail address, and user ID of the POC to be reactivated. To prevent being timed out due to no-activity, users should login once within 45 days of their last login.

20. EVALUATION CRITERIA

Although the services to be provided by this Solicitation’s resulting contract-awardee are fundamentally mailto:Omarr.Lee@dot.gov https://einvoice.esc.gov/ http://einvoice.esc.gov/ http://einvoice.esc.gov/ mailto:Omarr.Lee@dot.gov http://einvoice.esc.gov/ commercial items, DOT will, nevertheless, refine its contractor-selection-process in this procurement by also using certain procedures and incorporating certain features typically associated with FAR Part 15 acquisitions, including: (a) now specifying the Selection Factors and Evaluation Criteria given below; and

(b) hereafter applying a specified “Best Value” selection-process, in which each offeror’s overall attained technical standing will be more important than the offeror’s total proposed price; and (c) now reserving a right for DOT to establish a Competitive Range or a Limited Competitive Range pertaining to the proposals received by DOT in response to this Solicitation; and (d) now reserving a right for DOT to investigate the Past Performance records of the offerors, including, potentially, but not limited to, a reserved right for DOT to conduct one or more past-performance-investigations that reach beyond the past-performance-information that is included in the offerors’ proposals; and (e) now reserving a right for DOT to engage in discussions / negotiations with offerors; and (f) now reserving a right for DOT to obtain clarifications from offerors; (g) now reserving a right for DOT to ask any offeror(s) to provide, to DOT, work-product-samples that were not included in the proposal initially submitted to DOT; and (h) now reserving a right for DOT to require submission of Final Proposal Revisions (“Best and Final Offers”) from all offerors whose proposals DOT determined were inside this procurement’s Competitive Range or Limited Competitive Range.

But DOT does also hereby specifically reserve the right to make a contract-award without discussion, from the proposals initially received by DOT in response to this Solicitation, if, in DOT’s judgment, such a procedure would be proper and permissible under the FAR. And each offeror is accordingly instructed to put forth its best good-faith-effort to include its best terms and its strongest presentation in the proposal which the offeror initially submits to DOT in response to this Solicitation.

DOT’s Technical Evaluation Criteria and Pricing-selection-factor for this procurement are as follows:

DOT’s Technical Evaluation Panel (TEP) will evaluate each Offeror’s non-pricing proposal on the technical criteria (factors) numbered 1, 2, 3 and 4 as set forth below, by using an adjectival rating-scale running from “Excellent” at the top, down through “Good” and “Satisfactory” and “Marginal” and “Unsatisfactory” at the bottom.

The four Technical Evaluation criteria (factors) will be weighted relatively in the following descending order of importance:

• Technical Capabilities

• Corporate Experience

• Management Approach

• Past Performance

• Price

(1) Technical Capabilities: The capabilities, as demonstrated in the offeror’s proposal, of the offeror-company to provide all of the kinds of services mentioned in this Solicitation’s Statement of Work, and all of the regulatory-compliance mentioned anywhere in this Solicitation.

(2) Corporate Experience: The past-work-experience of the offeror-company, as demonstrated in the offeror’s proposal, that is relevant to this Solicitation’s Statement of Work.

(3) Management Approach: The qualifications of the offeror’s proposed staff-members, as demonstrated in the offeror’s proposal, to perform (or to oversee the performance of) this Solicitation’s

Statement of Work; and

(4) Past Performance: The quality-of-work and timeliness-of-work and cost-control and customer-relations achieved in the offeror’s past-performance.

(5) Price: Although price is an evaluation factor, it will not be evaluated based upon a predetermined evaluation rating scale. However, price will be analyzed in order to ensure that the proposed price is fair and reasonable. See major-section 12, above, for more information concerning the weight of this Solicitation’s pricing-factor.

In addition to the Technical Evaluation Criteria listed above, the competitiveness and reasonableness of the offeror’s proposing pricing-structure will be an important selection-factor in this procurement.

In DOT’s selection-decision, each offeror’s overall achieved technical standing will be more important than the offeror’s total proposed price—but each offeror’s total proposed price will, nevertheless, be very important. And DOT will be making a best-value selection-decision, in which DOT’s chosen contract-awardee will not necessarily be the lowest-totally-priced offeror and will not necessarily be the offeror that achieved the highest overall technical standing.

The Government reserves the right to require the Offerors to submit additional information as necessary to support a pre-award determination of responsibility.

21. WHAT TO SUBMIT

INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS SUBMITTING QUOTATIONS (PROPOSALS)

RFO 52.212-1 [RESERVED]

The Technical and Price proposals shall be submitted in two separate volumes. Offers must include the following information on the cover page of each volume:

1. RFP Number and Project Title

2. Offeror's Point of contact for this project including name, title, address, phone number, and email address

3. Tax Identification Number (TIN)

4. DUN & Bradstreet,/Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS)

5. North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) Code: 519190

6. Product Service Code (PSC): R612

7. The validity period of the quote [Offeror's Quotation(s) must be valid for at least 90 calendar days]

8. Provide an acknowledgement of all RFP amendments, if any (may be included in the cover letter). The acknowledgement must reference the amendment numbers."

9. The Offeror must submit with their proposals a completed Representations and Certifications -

Commercial Items (FAR 52.212-3) form. If the Offeror's Representations and Certifications are registered in the SAM website https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/), it must be indicated in the offer.

10. The offer shall also indicate a statement that the SAM record has been entered in www.sam.gov or updated in the last 12 months, are current, accurate, complete, and applicable to this solicitation.

The Offeror shall submit the proposals in two separate volumes: a technical volume (i.e., non-pricing volume); and a price volume.

The following information should be included in the TECHNICAL VOLUME:

The Offeror shall demonstrate its ability to meet the criteria and capabilities outlined in this Solicitation’s major-Sections number 2, 11 and 12 above, as well as all administrative-compliance-responsibilities specified anywhere in this Solicitation, and the offeor shall provide resumes for all the offeror’s proposed staff-members. The technical volume shall not exceed 50 pages. That 50-page limit does not include cover page, table of contents and resumes.

Each Offeror shall complete and submit in its technical volume this Solicitation’s Attachment 1, Information Regarding Responsibility Matters, and this Solicitation’s Attachment 2, Representation regarding certain telecom and surveillance equipment.

The following information shall be included in the offeror’s PRICE VOLUME (see, also, Section 15 below):

A filled-in-by-the-offeror version of all of the year-by-year pricing-tables set forth in this Solicitation’s major section numbered 1 entitled “Pricing Tables”.

ITEMS TO BE INCLUDED IN EACH OFFEROR’S NON-PRICING PROPOSAL:

Technical Capability: (not to exceed 90 pages)

The offeror’s technical proposal shall demonstrate an understanding of the requirement sufficient to provide media management services in all functional tasks areas of the statement of work in adequate detail to clearly and fully demonstrate that the offeror understands the requirement. The offeror’s proposal shall demonstrate technical capability in the following areas:

1. Analyst Written Daily News Briefings

a. Provide two daily briefings on deadline, notably:

A 4:45 am briefing with a specific focus on highest level coverage to serve as the first read for the Secretary.

A 6:30 am briefing, written overnight by US citizen analysts, that distills news coverage of interest to DOT officials from the previous 24 hours

b. Sample: The Offeror’s technical response shall include a sample product: of the Analyst Written Daily News Briefing for the day the proposal is due.

https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ http://www.sam.gov/

Sample should be based on news from the previous 24 hours and cover DOT, all its agencies and all requirements described above and delivered at 6:30 AM ET. Samples should be delivered via email to the contracting officer.

2. eNews Print and Internet Monitoring

a. Provide eNews print and internet monitoring services that can monitor up to 4,500 print publications in text format.

b. Provide eNews in North America media monitoring from 20,000 internet and online print

c. Provide online broadcasts, news related websites

d. Provide unlimited articles and text only with URL for online content

3. Social media Monitoring Capability

a. Provide media services to monitor micro-blogs and sites

b. Provide services that capture data in real time and deliver to a dashboard, integrated with traditional monitoring coverage

c. Provide media services that set up email alerts and search terms, sort coverage, filter results by county and media type, analyze and compare volume of coverage, score quality of engagements, rate influential sites, share reports and coverage with key stakeholder

4. Northern American Database

a. Provide access to North American and US Territory and media databases

b. Provide the ability to send press releases and media advisories to targeted medial lists

c. Provide wire service web distribution

d. Provide updates to developed media databases to remain current

5. Analytics Tool for Tracking Progress and Success of Media Campaigns

a. Create charts, graphs, DMA maps with selected coverage to determine campaign publicity values, tone and frequency

b. Provide user controlled and user assigned tone Corporate Experience:

Each offeror’s non-pricing proposal shall include citations / descriptions of contracts / projects which the offeror-company has performed, and which are relevant to this Solicitation’s envisioned “News Clips” project. A key difference between this “Corporate Experience” proposal-section and the offeror’s “Past Performance” performance-section is that the offeror’s “Corporate Experience” section need not necessarily attempt to describe or document the quality or the timeliness or the cost-control or the customer-relations attained by the offeror-company on any corporate-experience-project cited by the offeror.

Management Approach: (not to exceed 90 pages)

The Government will also evaluate the offeror’s technical proposal based the demonstrated management approach to providing media management services for the USDOT Office of Public Affairs. The offeror’s technical proposal shall show Key Personnel qualifications and standards of experience relative for qualifications of recent similar work in complexity, size and scope as detailed in the statement of work.

The offeror’s technical proposal for this evaluation factor shall include the following information:

The offeror shall provide an organizational chart identifying key positions; the roles, responsibilities and duties associated with each position; and the lines of authority within the proposed organizational structure that will apply to the contract.

The offeror shall provide procedures which will be utilized for the management to help ensure quality and coordinated performance of all work requirements under the scope of the contract.

The offeror shall provide procedures for ensuring timely, efficient, and accurate communications between the USDOT Contracting Officer and the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) and those contractor personnel who have direct managerial responsibility for work performed under the contract. The response shall include a description of how the offeror plans to handle unexpected changes in the task order.

The offeror shall provide resumes showing the qualifications of the offeror’s proposed staff- members who would be serving in the performance of the contract awarded from this solicitation.

Past Performance:

An offeror’s past performance record shall indicate the relevant quantitative and qualitative aspects of performing services or delivering products similar in size, content, and complexity to the requirement of media management services for the USDOT. The offeror may submit additional information at their discretion if they consider such information necessary to establish a record of relevant past performance.

The offeror shall furnish the following information for a minimum of three contracts or subcontracts in excess of $100,000 for work substantially similar (that has been similarly performed relative to technical requirements and complexity) to the proposed effort that the offeror is currently performing or has completed in the past five years. Indicate which contracts and sub-contracts are most related and how they are related to the proposed effort inclusive of the following.

- Customer’s name, address, telephone number of both the lead contractual and technical personnel most familiar with the offeror’s performance record.

- Contract Number, type, and total original and present or final Contract value.

- Date of contract, place(s) of performance, and delivery dates or period of performance.

- Brief description of contract work and comparability to the proposed effort. It is not sufficient to state that it is comparable in magnitude and scope. Rationale must be provided to demonstrate that it is comparable.

- Identify and explain major technical problems and how they were overcome. List any major deviations or waivers to technical requirements that were granted by the customer.

Identify and explain completion successes and delays, including adherence to program schedules.

- List any contracts terminated (partial or complete) within the past five years and basis for termination. Include the contract number, name, address, and telephone number of the terminating officer.

- Include contracts that were “descoped” by the customer because of performance or cost problems.

Price: Although price is an evaluation factor, it will not be evaluated based upon a predetermined evaluation rating scale. However, price will be analyzed in order to ensure that the proposed price is fair and reasonable. See major-section 12, above, for more information concerning the weight of this Solicitation’s pricing-factor.

The non-pricing portion of each offeror’s proposal shall describe the offeror’s capability and plan and intention for complying with the Section 508 provisions set forth above in this Solicitation.

Additional Items for Offerors to Include in the Non-Pricing Portion of their Proposals:

The non-pricing portion of each offeror’s proposal shall in addition include any other material which, in the offeror’s opinion, specifically addresses any of this Solicitation’s specified Technical Evaluation Criteria.

Submission of the Price Proposal shall be separate from Volume I – Technical Proposal, and shall…