Ordering Instructions.pdf

HBCU PEI Ordering Instructions

This contract provides for the issuance of Task Orders on a negotiated basis as follows:

a. General

Only the Contracting Officer may issue Task Orders to the Contractor, providing specific authorization or direction to perform work within the scope of the contract and as specified in the Statement of Work.

Unless specifically authorized by the Contracting Officer, the Contractor shall not commence work until a fully executed Task Order has been awarded. The Contractor may incur costs under this contract in performance of task orders and task order modifications issued in accordance with this ARTICLE. No other costs are authorized unless otherwise specified in the contract or expressly authorized by the Contracting Officer. The attached NIHBPSSII Standard Operating Procedures outline the processes for award of a HBCU PEI task order.

b. Requesting Task Order Proposals.

The Contracting Officer or a designated individual may solicit responses to requirements from Contractors within a technical area covered by a task order requirement in writing. A Task Order Request for Proposals (TORFP) will be prepared and issued for each task order requirement.

Generally, the Task Order Request for Proposal (TORFP) will include but is not limited to the following:

1. Statement of Work;

2. Reporting Requirements and Deliverables;

3. Proposal Due Date and Location to Deliver Proposals;

4. Period of Performance of Task Order;

5. Anticipated type of Task Order;

6. Technical Proposal Instructions;

7. Business proposal Instructions

8. Evaluation Factors for Award

All contract clauses contained this contract shall be incorporated in the TORFP and the resultant task order. If conflicts exist between the contract clauses and the information outlined in the task order, the contract language takes precedence over the information in the task order.

Contractors are not required to propose on all TORFPs. Those eligible Contractors that decide not to submit a proposal shall advise the Contracting Officer, in writing, of their intention not to submit a proposal on or before the closing date and time established in the TORFP. An election not to propose on a given TORFP will not negatively affect or prohibit a Contractor from competing on future TORFPs.

However, it may affect the Contractor's eligibility for continuations or extensions of the resultant Task Order.

c. Competitive Ordering Process.

1. All Contractors within a technical area will receive e-mail notification advising of the availability of each proposed task order requirement. All proposed task orders will incorporate all terms of this contract unless otherwise specified in the proposed task order.

2. Contractors will be provided an adequate time to prepare and submit responses based on the Contracting Officer's consideration of the estimated dollar value and complexity of proposed task order.

Responses will not be considered a proposal as defined in FAR Part 15. However, the Contractor shall provide information sufficient for consideration in accordance with FAR Part 16. Each TORFP will indicate the criteria for the evaluation of proposals. The responses shall demonstrate capability for each criterion to be evaluated. Generally, the Contractor will be asked to demonstrate the following as appropriate:

• Understanding of the requirements;

• Experience and capability on similar tasks;

• Technical approach, methods and procedures for satisfying the requirements with a discussion of potential problems to be encountered and proposed solutions and/or risk mitigation strategies.

• Procedures for assuring quality of work, products, and deliverables;

• Plan for managing the task order, including meeting requirements and schedules, and performance measures (if applicable); Staffing plan with skill levels and level of effort for each individual proposed.

Generally, resumes will be required for proposed personnel (if not previously submitted);

• References to evaluate past performance; and

• Cost/Price to perform the task order.

d. Evaluation and Award of Task Order Proposals

The Government will evaluate the Task Order proposals against the requirements of the TORFP.

Specifically, the technical evaluation factors, cost/price, past performance, and any other factor specifically identified in the TORFP will be used for evaluation of each proposal. In addition, the TORFP will identify the basis for selecting a contractor for award. Generally, technical factors will be significantly more important than cost or price However, each TORFP will specify how the award decision will be made.

Upon completion of evaluations, the Contracting Officer will issue a task order to the Contractor whose proposal is most advantageous to the government

The Contracting Officer will notify the Contractor(s) of the selection decision in writing.

e. Fair Opportunity

1. In accordance with FAR 16.505(b)(1)(i), each awardee will be given a fair opportunity to be considered for each order issued over $3,500 unless the following exception(s) apply:

i. The agency need for the supplies or services is so urgent that providing a fair opportunity would result in unacceptable delays.

ii. Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized.

iii. The order must be issued on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to an order already issued under the contract, provided that all awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order.

iv. It is necessary to place an order to satisfy a minimum guarantee.

2. All orders with an expected total value between $3,500 and $700,000 shall be set aside for small business concerns as authorized by section 1331 of Public Law 111-240 (15 U.S.C. 644(r)) unless one of the exceptions above applies, market research shows that competitive small business proposals will not be received, or the set aside is withdrawn after no acceptable offers were received from small business concerns.

3. All awardees will be given a fair opportunity to be considered in accordance with the FAR as follows:

i. For orders exceeding $3,500 up to the simplified acquisition threshold, in accordance with FAR 16.505(b)(1)(ii);

ii. For orders exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold up to $5.5 Million, in accordance with 16.505(b) (1)(iii); and,

iii. For orders exceeding $5.5 Million, in accordance with FAR 16.505(b)(1)(iv).

INVOICE SUBMISSION

Contractor/Vendor Electronic Invoice Submission to the Office of Financial Management (OFM):

The Contractor/Vendor shall:

• Send the invoice to the NIH centralized invoice email box: invoicing@nih.gov

• Follow the below format in the email subject line, which is a must (Note: The keywords and separating bars in bold must be present to identify the information.)

Vendor: name of the contractor/vendor|PO: Contract Number/Task Order Number|Invoice:9999999

• Ensure that the body of the email and attached invoice must both include the contractor/vendor’s correspondence email address in the below format (bolded information must be present to identify information):

Correspondence email address: xyz@abc.com

• Follow the system size limits that apply to the email and each invoice: individual email attachments cannot exceed 5 megabytes each; and the email plus all attachments cannot exceed a total of 30 megabytes.

• Clearly identify a valid and complete contract number on each invoice

• Clearly identify a valid and complete order number on each invoice

• Clearly identify an accurate DUNS number on each invoice

• Not include confidential information such as Social Security Numbers (do not include TIN if it is a Social Security Number)

• Send one (1) invoice per email

The date/time that a valid invoice is submitted electronically to the email box (invoicing@nih.gov) will be the same date/time logged as that the invoice is received by NIH.

Please do not hand-deliver invoices to any NIH office. Please follow the above electronic submission instructions until further notice. In addition, please note that your contract or order will not be modified to reflect the above changes to the invoicing instructions. Failure to follow the above electronic submission instructions may result in invoice processing delays.

For Questions? Inquiries regarding the status of invoices such as receipt of invoices, due date, or payment of invoices should be directed to the OFM Commercial Accounts Branch, Customer Service Office at 301-496-6088. The office is open Monday-Friday from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm (eastern prevailing time). The Customer Service Office is closed daily between 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm (eastern prevailing time).

Contractor Courtesy Copy Electronic Invoice Submission to the Contracting Officer or Specialist AND Task order Contracting Office’s Technical Representative:

The Contractor shall send the OFM-submitted invoice to the NIH Contracting Officer.

a. Electronic Invoice Instructions will be made part of this contract. The Contractor shall follow the attached instructions and submission procedures specified to meet the requirements of a "proper invoice" pursuant to FAR Subpart 32.9, Prompt Payment.

1. Payment requests shall be submitted electronically to the offices identified below. Do not submit supporting documentation (e.g., receipts, time sheets, vendor invoices, etc.) with your payment request unless specified elsewhere in the contract or requested by the Contracting Officer.

a. The original invoice shall be electronically submitted to the NIH centralized invoice email box:

invoicing@nih.gov.

National Institutes of Health

Office of Financial Management Commercial Accounts

2115 East Jefferson Street, Room 4B-432, MSC 8500 Bethesda, MD 20892-8500

b. One copy of the invoice shall be submitted to the following approving official (Task order COR) identified in the task order.

2. In addition to the requirements specified in FAR 32.905 for a proper invoice, the Contractor shall include the following information on the face page of all payment requests:

a. Name of the Office of Acquisitions. The Office of Acquisitions for this contract is NIH Office of Logistics and Acquisition Operations, unless a different office is referenced in the task order.

b. Federal Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN). If the Contractor does not have a valid TIN, it shall identify the Vendor Identification Number (VIN) on the payment request. The VIN is the number that appears after the Contractor's name on the face page of the contract. [Note: A VIN is assigned to new contracts awarded on or after June 4, 2007, and any existing contract modified to include the VIN number.] If the Contractor has neither a TIN, DUNS, or VIN, contact the Contracting Officer.

c. DUNS or DUNS+4 Number. The DUNS number must identify the Contractor's name and address exactly as stated in the contract and as registered in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database.

If the Contractor does not have a valid DUNS number, it shall identify the Vendor Identification Number (VIN) on the payment request. The VIN is the number that appears after the Contractor's name on the face page of the contract. [Note: A VIN is assigned to new contracts awarded on or after June 4, 2007, and any existing contract modified to include the VIN number.] If the Contractor has neither a TIN, DUNS, or VIN, contact the Contracting Officer.

d. Invoice Matching Option. This contract requires a two-way match.

e. Unique Invoice Number. Each payment request must be identified by a unique invoice number, which can only be used one time regardless of the number of contracts or orders held by an organization.

f. The Contract Title is: NIHHBCU PEI TORP XX

g. Contract Line Items as follows:

Line Item #

Line Item Description

Inquiries regarding payment of invoices shall be directed to the designated billing office, (301) 496-6088.

c. The Contractor shall include the following certification on every invoice for reimbursable costs incurred with Fiscal Year funds subject to HHSAR Clause 352.231-70, Salary Rate Limitation in SECTION I of this contract. For billing purposes, certified invoices are required for the billing period during which the applicable Fiscal Year funds were initially charged through the final billing period utilizing the applicable Fiscal Year funds:

"I hereby certify that the salaries charged in this invoice are in compliance with HHSAR Clause 352.231- 70, Salary Rate Limitation in SECTION I of the above referenced contract."

PROVIDING ACCELERATED PAYMENT TO SMALL BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTORS, FAR 52.232-40

(December 2013)

a. Upon receipt of accelerated payments from the Government, the Contractor shall make accelerated payments to its small business subcontractors under this contract, to the maximum extent practicable and prior to when such payment is otherwise required under the applicable contract or subcontract, after receipt of a proper invoice and all other required documentation from the small business subcontractor.

b. The acceleration of payments under this clause does not provide any new rights under the prompt Payment Act.

c. Include the substance of this clause, include this paragraph c, in all subcontracts with small business concerns, including subcontracts with small business concerns for the acquisition of commercial items.

(End of Clause)

GOVERNMENT PROPERTY

If this RFP will result in the acquisition or use of Government Property provided by the contracting agency or if the Contracting Officer authorizes in the preaward negotiation process, the acquisition of property (other than real property), this ARTICLE will include applicable provisions and incorporate the HHS Publication, entitled, "HHS

Contracting Guide for Contract of Government Property," which can be found at:

http://oamp.od.nih.gov/sites/default/ files/appendix_q_hhs_contracting_guide.pdf.

It is not anticipated that GFP will be provided at the master contract level; however, GFP may be furnished under awarded tasks.

ON-SITE CONTRACTOR ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT PROPERTY

The Contractor shall be held responsible for Government Property, regardless of dollar value, when:

• The contract requires contractor personnel to be located on a Government site or installation;

• The property utilized by contractor personnel is incidental to the place of performance; and,

• The property used by the contractor remains accountable to the Government

Responsibility includes physical presence, proper use and handling, normal maintenance, and reporting loss, damage or destruction.

Responsibility for government property shared by two or more contractors or located in space shared by two or more contractors, shall be determined and documented by the contractors involved. In cases where the parties cannot reach agreement on shared responsibility, the matter will be referred to the NIH Property Officer for resolution.

POST AWARD EVALUATION OF CONTRACTOR PERFORMANCE

a. Contractor Performance Evaluations Interim and Final evaluations of Contractor performance will be prepared on this contract in accordance with FAR Subpart 42.15. The Final performance evaluation will be prepared at the time of completion of work. In addition to the Final evaluation, Interim evaluation(s) will be prepared Annually as follows on To be completed at award [Insert Dates].

Interim and Final evaluations will be provided to the Contractor as soon as practicable after completion of the evaluation. The Contractor will be permitted thirty days to review the document and to submit additional information or a rebutting statement. If agreement cannot be reached between the parties, the matter will be referred to an individual one level above the Contracting Officer, whose decision will be final.

Copies of the evaluations, Contractor responses, and review comments, if any, will be retained as part of the contract file, and may be used to support future award decisions.

b. Electronic Access to Contractor Performance Evaluations

Contractors may access evaluations through a secure Web site for review and comment at the following address:

http://www.cpars.gov