70Z02318QACS01800_-_Attachment_1_-_Statement_of_Work.pdf

70Z02318QACS01800

Attachment 1 – Statement of Work

Statement of Work (SOW) for eProcurement Federal Reverse Auction Services

1.0 Background

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the principal Federal agency responsible for maritime safety, security, and environmental stewardship in U.S. ports and waterways. In this capacity, the Coast Guard protects and defends more than 100,000 miles of U.S. coastline and inland waterways, and safeguards an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) encompassing 4.5 million square miles stretching from North of the Arctic Circle to South of the equator, from Puerto Rico to Guam, encompassing nine time zones – the largest EEZ in the world. As one of the five Armed Services of the United States, the Coast Guard is the only military branch within the Department of Homeland Security. In addition to its role as an Armed Service, the Coast Guard is a first responder and humanitarian service that provides aid to people in distress or impacted by natural and man-made disasters whether at sea or ashore. The Coast Guard is a member of the Intelligence Community, and is a law enforcement and regulatory agency with broad legal authorities associated with maritime transportation, hazardous materials shipping, bridge administration, oil spill response, pilotage, and vessel construction and operation.

The over 56,000 members of the Coast Guard operate a multi-mission, interoperable fleet of 243 Cutters, 201 fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, and over 1,600 boats. Operational control of surface and air assets is vested in two Coast Guard geographical Areas (Pacific and Atlantic), nine Coast Guard Districts, and 35 Sectors located at strategic ports throughout the country.

Six Mission Support Logistics and Service Centers provide services for operational assets and shore facilities. Coast Guard program oversight, policy development, and personnel administration are carried out at Coast Guard Headquarters located on the St. Elizabeth campus in Washington, DC.

2.0 Purpose

The USCG seeks a mature, existing, Reverse Auction Solution that increases innovation, opportunities, and competition through the buyer community. The solution should streamline planning, negotiation, and award of the purchase of a variety of products and services within the simplified acquisition threshold for acquisitions of USCG buyers using the reverse auction strategy.

The reverse auction environment will give buyers the ability to create reverse auctions across a wide variety of vehicles (e.g. GSA, NASA SEWP, FirstSource II, other DHS Strategic Sourcing Vehicles, etc.) and a variety of contract types within the service capabilities.

The main functions are to assist buyers to conduct market research, post requirements and obtain offers for requirements in support of the agency’s units and offices worldwide with real-time response capability, available 24 hours per day in a manner that provides consistency and efficiency across all USCG buying offices leveraging resources and reducing the administrative burden while simultaneously increasing competition, obtaining great prices and meeting socioeconomic goals.

3.0 Scope of Services

The Scope of Services (SOS) defines the minimum requirements for Reverse Auction Services for the USCG. Under this contract, the vendor will provide not only the platform, but the additional services identified below in order to support the USCG acquisition process.

3.1 Description

The Contractor shall provide all the materials, equipment, personnel, software, and incidentals required to provide user-friendly web-enabled capabilities to purchase commodities and services through a reverse auction mechanism that does not require the download or installation of any software. This web-enabled reverse auctioning interface shall permit acquisition personnel to conduct real-time competed auctions for different contract vehicles by posting online reverse auction formatted solicitations, utilize best value award criteria, and establish auction start/end times.

The system shall be versatile to allow buyers to have complete control of the bidding process to post auctions, cancel auctions at any time if it is in the best interest of the Government, and make an award to any vendor within the bid pool. The system should support up to 1000 users requiring access to the system with the potential to increase as needed. The system shall provide a wide vendor network with the opportunity for vast expansion. Contractors must provide a system infrastructure capable of scaling and providing reasonable service availability and uptime. In addition, the contractor shall work with the USCG to develop additional reverse auctioning system capabilities and features as mutually agreed by the parties.

Support that the contractor is reasonably expected to provide to the USCG acquisition staff in the performance of reverse auctioning services to include, but not limited to, the following:

1. User Training (onsite and remote)

2. Set up and administration of all user accounts

3. Provide technical/user support (help desk) to troubleshoot problems with the system

4. Weekly Help Desk reports summarizing and detailing all customer calls to Help Desk

5. Provide a qualified list of suppliers

6. Recruit and train new sellers to expand the supplier pool

7. Allow the Agency to provide suggested sources

8. Notify vendors of any new postings

9. Partitioning so that suppliers/bidders are unknown to each other

10. Hide the identity of bidders so they are unknown to each other

11. When necessary, the contractor shall serve proxy to post and cancel bids

12. Provide expert reverse auctioning advice when necessary (i.e. timeframe of bids, cancellation, and reposting of bids, etc.)

13. Provide necessary online access to the following information about each activity/bid

a. Summary of all bids submitted per event

b. Details of each bid submitted per event

c. Vendor’s specific information (i.e. Company name, address, point of contact (POC), POC’s phone number and email address, company’s tax ID number, company’s DUNs number, etc.)

3.2 Reports

Reporting capabilities are expected and should be readily available to ensure agency leadership and program management to understanding and analyze bidding trends. This includes but is not limited to: GWAC utilization, competition metrics, cost avoidance metrics, category specific bidding trends. The provider will be able to provide this data on a quarterly and annual basis with additional ad hoc requests available as requested.

Additionally, separated Monthly and Annual reports shall be submitted electronically to the Contracting Officer and designated Contracting Officer Representative(s) (COR) as indicated below. These reports can be in contractor format, but must include all required elements described in the table below:

Deliverable Description

Monthly

The Contractor shall submit a monthly report summarizing and detailing all procurement activities for the previous month including but not limited to all posted, awarded, and canceled procurements with the following information:

• Purchasing division/branch;

• Name of vendor;

• Business size;

• Contract vehicle utilized;

• And percentage saved based on a total target price set by the buyer.

Deliverable Description

Annually

At the conclusion of each year of performance, the contractor shall create a comprehensive report that lists all procurement activities for the year that all elements listed above under the Monthly Reports.

In addition, the annual report shall include all costs charged to the Government, if any.

4.0 Government Furnished Resources

The Contractor shall provide all the materials, equipment, personnel, software, and incidentals required that are not the burden of the contractor as outlined in this PWS.

5.0 Contract Concerns

The duration of the contract must, at least, match the duration of the intended period of performance for this order. It is the awardee's responsibility to attempt an extension with

GSA.

6.0 Reverse Auction Fees and Associated Costs

To ensure all acquisition professionals are aware of the associated costs of reverse auctions, the provider must provide a detailed overview of fee and transaction costs associated with the Reverse Auction platform. This should include specific caveats and address associated costs with commodity, service and option year requirements.

7.0 Product White-Labeling

For enterprise-wide adoption, USCG requires the selected solution to provide white-labeling functionality. This functionality will be powered by the solution provider, and will receive the same services and support outlined in their proposal. The selected White Labeling solution will use agency specific logos, color schemes, URL, and landing page, with agency approval, to brand the reverse auction tool.

8.0 Contracting Officer’s Representative

The point of contact for information regarding this solicitation is: TBD upon award.

9.0 Place of Performance

The reverse auctioning site shall be hosted at a secure data center facility. The Contractor is expected to provide offsite direct support team for training, help desk, sourcing, and technical support. If deemed appropriate by both parties, Contractor is expected to employ dedicated support personnel onsite occasionally.

These individuals are expected to work closely with acquisition personnel, USCG training staff, and provide ongoing buyer support in order to ensure successful implementation and ongoing utilization of the reverse auction tool.

10.0 Work Schedule

The Reverse Auction Solution is expected to provide online access and acceptable system uptime service levels for these services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days per year, except for scheduled maintenance time after hours. Technical and customer service support shall be available Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays, between the hours of 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM eastern standard time (EST).

11.0 Period of Performance

The period of performance for furnishing services is twelve (12) months from date the contract award, with two twelve (12) month (or fraction thereof) option periods, subject to the Government’s needs and the availability of funds. In the event the options are exercised, the maximum periods of performance for each option shall be:

Base Year: Date of Award through 12 months Option Year 1: Date of option period’s performance start date through 12 months Option Year 2: Date of option period’s performance start date through 12 months

12.0 Security and Privacy

The solution provider will not require connection of any contractor-owned IT devices (such as laptop computers, servers, or remote connections from a contractor system) to an internal network.

If contractor personnel have a necessity for access to USCG sensitive procurement information, they will be required to sign a non-disclosure agreement form prior to the beginning of the period of performance. All USCG information must be held in strict confidence and may not be shared outside of the USCG.

Contractors requiring visitor access should contact the COR as soon as possible prior to a visit. The COR will provide a POC that will assist the contractor in obtaining permission to visit the USCG facility. The contractor must comply with all Access Control requirements required by the particular USCG location they are visiting.