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REPLY TO
ATTENTION OF
) Department of the Army
U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS
HUMPHREYS ENGINEER CENTER SUPPORT ACTIVITY
7701 TELEGRAPH ROAD
ALEXANDRIA, VA 22315-3860
Contracting Office: CEHEC-CT 21 FEB 2025
COMBINED SYNOPSIS - SOLICITATION
NUMBER: W912HQ25R0006
TITLE: RSM RIVER MECHANICS PODCAST EDITING
1. GENERAL INFORMATION
This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial services prepared in accordance with the format in FAR 12.603 – Streamlined Solicitation for Commercial Items, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice and FAR Part 13 procedures. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation. Proposals are being requested. This solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2025-03, dated 03 JAN 2025.
A Firm Fixed Price (FFP) award will be made in accordance with the following:
This acquisition is being solicited as a total small business set-aside. Competitive set-aside procedures will be used. The North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 512290 Other Sound Recording Industries, with a size standard of $22.5M.
2. NATURE OF ACQUISITION
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Institute for Water Resources (IWR) has a requirement to purchase the services stated below. This procurement will be awarded under Simplified Acquisition Procedures for Commercial Services. All questions must be received by Wednesday, 5 March 2025, 4:30PM US Eastern Standard Time (EST). Proposals must be received no later than Thursday, 20 March 2025, 4:30PM US Eastern Standard Time (EST). Electronic proposals submitted via email are required. All questions and proposals shall be sent to the Contract Specialist, Ms. Kieran Jacobson at email: Helen.Jacobson@usace.army.mil. A copy of all questions and proposals should be furnished to the Contracting Officer, Mr. David A. Kaplan at email: David.A.Kaplan@usace.army.mil.
It is the Offeror’s responsibility to ensure the proposal has been received by the contracting office via email. Fax proposals will not be accepted. Late proposals will be processed in accordance with FAR 52.212-1(f) “Late submission, modifications, revisions, and withdrawals of offers.” Upon receipt of the electronic offer, the Government will acknowledge receipt of that offer via email to the Offeror.
3. DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
Background:
The mission of the IWR Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC) is to serve as the USACE Center of Expertise in the technical areas of surface and groundwater hydrology, river hydraulics and sediment transport, reservoir system analysis and a number of other closely associated technical subjects. HEC's primary goal is to support the nation in its water resources management responsibilities by increasing USACE’s technical capability in hydrologic engineering and water resources planning and management. Additionally, HEC provides services to other Federal, state, local and international agencies engaged in these technical areas.
IWR-HEC produces a Regional Sediment Management (RSM) River Mechanics Podcast. The intent of the podcast is to capture institutional wisdom and process insight of river-mechanics experts to collect and disseminate lessons learned over distinguished, multi-decadal, river-mechanics careers in a podcast format. River mechanics, sediment transport, and fluvial geomorphology are wisdom-based disciplines. Practitioners typically learn much more about these topics from conversations with senior subject matter experts than from manuals, conferences, or even classes. The RSM River Mechanics Podcast leverages innovative tech-transfer mechanisms to capture some of this institutional wisdom and deliver it to the sediment community.
HEC seeks services to edit the podcast recordings. The raw audio includes interviews with the most respected researchers, professors, and practitioners in fields relevant to the RSM River Mechanics Podcast. Guests are selected primarily for technical expertise and usually have little experience with interviews. They are often not as articulate as they would like to be. HEC is looking for an editor who will carefully and thoughtfully spotlight their content and honor their career by making them sound as smooth and well-spoken as possible.
Requirement:
Provide professional editing and sound mixing for episodes of the RSM River Mechanics Podcast. This contract procures editing services to improve the quality of audio interviews recorded in person, making detailed edits to the host and guest tracks and sound engineering decisions to produce professional, industry-standard, audio products.
These episodes will be - almost entirely - interview podcasts with audio from a host and one-to-three guests. Occasionally we record them opportunistically in a live setting with an audience (e.g. conference panel) which affects the quality of the audio. Future episodes are also likely to include “clip episodes” or trailers which will include segments from multiple interviews interspersed with explanatory audio. Most of the episodes are recorded live by the host, who is not an audio specialist. The quality of the delivered audio can vary and, in the past, has included some ambient noise that has affected the difficulty of the edit.
Period of Performance:
The period of performance (POP) is sixty (60) days from the date of contract award; there are four Option Tasks which each have a POP of fifty (50) days from Option award.
Place of Performance:
The Offeror’s facility. See the Performance Work Statement (PWS) for additional information.
4. BASIS FOR AWARD
All offers will be comparatively evaluated based on the factors described below: Technical, Organizational Management/Key Personnel, Past Performance and Price. Offers must be submitted using the CLIN structure below in Factor 4 - Price.
Factor 1 – Technical Capability:
The Offeror must submit a technical proposal detailing how the Offeror’s will complete requirements specified in the PWS. The Offeror must limit their technical proposal to no more than twenty (20) typed pages. Key personnel resumes are highly encouraged and do not count against the page limitation. Key personnel resumes are limited to no more than 2 pages each.
The offeror’s proposal will be evaluated to determine the offeror’s demonstrated capability to perform the requirements in the PWS.
Offerors must include their proposed level of effort (labor hours) broken down per each labor category they are proposing.
Factor 2 – Organizational Management and Structure Plan:
The Offeror must submit an organizational management and structure detailing their management plan and organizational structure.
The offeror’s proposal will be evaluated on their ability to demonstrate a feasible management plan and organizational structure for accomplishment of work and services of the magnitude involved in this contract. The offeror’s organizational structure chart must demonstrate a clear hierarchy, delineate responsibilities, and establish overall coordination between the contractor and the Government. The offeror’s proposal will be evaluated on the adequacy of the proposed work force required to respond to the fluctuating workloads and requirements in response to contract requirements. The offeror must demonstrate sufficient technical and administrative facilities and staff to accomplish and support contract requirements. The offeror’s proposal will be evaluated to the extent that it demonstrates availability of qualified key personnel, including the combined experience of the support personnel covering software development specifically in context to water resource engineering and planning software tools and models, and the appropriateness of education/expertise of key personnel. The offeror’s proposal will be evaluated to the extent that it demonstrates availability of proposed staff for multiple tasks simultaneously in accordance with the Labor Categories identified in the PWS.
Factor 3 – Past Performance:
The offeror’s past performance will be reviewed to determine recency, relevancy, and the quality of performance on the past contracts. The Government will evaluate the offeror’s record of past and current performance to ascertain the probability of successfully performing the required efforts of the PWS. A minimum of one and a maximum of three examples of past performance may be submitted. The examples must from within the 3 years preceding the date of the solicitation.
Factor 4 – Price:
The resulting award will be a firm fixed-price contract. Price reasonableness will be used for evaluation. The price factor will be evaluated using the price analysis techniques described at FAR 15.404-1, consisting of comparison of competitive offers received in response to the solicitation and comparison to the independent government cost estimate (IGE). Labor prices should be fully burdened labor rates.
| CLIN # |
| Description |
| Subtotal |
Grand Total
All work is to be performed in accordance with the attached PWS.
Prices must show the total price per task to complete the required services in accordance with the PWS, including all indirect rates and profit. This requirement will be awarded as a firm-fixed price contract.
The Government intends to award a contract without discussions with respective offerors. Offerors shall submit sufficient information and, in the format, specified in the Proposal Preparation Instructions. Offerors may be asked to clarify certain aspects of their offer (e.g., the relevance of technical capability information).
Basis for Evaluation:
Factor 1 – Technical Capability, and Factor 2 – Organizational Management and Structure Plan will be evaluated using the following combined technical/risk adjectival ratings detailed in the table on the page below:
Combined Technical/Risk Ratings:
Color Rating Adjectival Rating
Description
| Blue |
| Outstanding |
| Proposal indicates an exceptional approach and understanding of the requirements and contains multiple strengths, and risk of unsuccessful performance is low. |
| Purple |
| Good |
| Proposal indicates a thorough approach and understanding of the requirements and contains at least one strength, and risk of unsuccessful performance is low to moderate. |
| Green |
| Acceptable |
| Proposal meets requirements and indicates an adequate approach and understanding of the requirements, and risk of unsuccessful performance is no worse than moderate. |
| Yellow |
| Marginal |
| Proposal has not demonstrated an adequate approach and understanding of the requirements and/or risk of unsuccessful performance is high. |
| Red |
| Unacceptable |
| Proposal does not meet requirements of the solicitation, and thus, contains one or more deficiencies, and/or risk of unsuccessful performance is unacceptable. Proposal is un-awardable. |
Factor 3 – Past Performance for the previous three years will be evaluated in accordance with FAR 15.305(a)(2) and the DoD Source Selection Manual. The criteria to establish relevancy will be stated in the solicitation. Consideration will be given to those aspects of an offeror’s contract history that would give the greatest ability to predict whether the offeror will satisfy the current requirement. The Government will use data provided in the offeror’s proposal and data obtained from other sources, such as the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS). In the case where an offeror does not have record of relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not available or so sparse that no meaningful past performance rating can be reasonably assigned, the offeror may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance in accordance with FAR 15.305(a)(2)(iv). Therefore, the offeror shall be determined to have unknown past performance. Offerors determined to have unknown past performance will receive a neutral rating. Past Performance will be evaluated on relevancy and confidence using the following ratings:
Past Performance Relevancy Ratings:
| Very Relevant |
| Present/past performance effort involved essentially the same scope and magnitude of effort and complexities this solicitation requires. |
| Relevant |
| Present/past performance effort involved similar scope and magnitude of effort and complexities this solicitation requires. |
| Somewhat Relevant |
| Present/past performance effort involved some of the scope and magnitude of effort and complexities this solicitation requires. |
| Not Relevant |
| Present/past performance effort involved little or none of the scope and magnitude of effort and complexities this solicitation requires. |
Past Performance Confidence Assessments
| Substantial Confidence |
| Based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has a high expectation that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort. |
| Satisfactory Confidence |
| Based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has a reasonable expectation that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort. |
| Neutral Confidence |
| No recent/relevant performance record is available, or the offeror’s performance record is so sparse that no meaningful confidence assessment rating can be reasonably assigned. The offeror may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on the factor of past performance. |
| Limited Confidence |
| Based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has a low expectation that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort. |
No Confidence
Based on offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has no expectation that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort.
Factor 4 – Price will not be rated but will be evaluated to determine whether it is reasonable. Price reasonableness will be determined through price analysis techniques as described in FAR 15.404-1(b). The solicitation will contain a price schedule that the offerors will be required to complete. The price schedule must include all labor categories and their hourly rates per each task in the PWS. The Government may determine that an offer is unacceptable and may be rejected if the prices are significantly unbalanced.
Importance of Evaluation Factors Factor 1 – Technical Capability is more important than Factor 2 – Organizational Management and Structure which is more important than Factor 3 – Past Performance.
The non-price factors, when combined, are significantly more important than the price.
Price will not be scored or rated but will be evaluated to determine whether it is reasonable. Price reasonableness will be determined through price analysis techniques as described in FAR 15.404-1.
5. PROPOSAL PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS
FAR 52.212-1 – INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS – COMMERCIAL SERVICES
To ensure timely and equitable evaluation of quotes, offerors must comply with instructions contained herein. Offers must be complete, detailed and respond directly to the requirements of this solicitation.
a. Interested parties capable of providing the requirement must submit a signed and dated offer on company letterhead with unit prices, extended prices, discount terms, tax identification number, CAGE code, and SAM Unique Identifier in response to this solicitation. The requirements of this synopsis/solicitation, including specification, "Schedule of Supplies/Services" and terms and conditions, the offeror agrees to all solicitation requirements. Offerors must clearly identify any exception to the solicitation terms and conditions and provide complete accompanying rationale.
b. All offer information shall be emailed to Ms. Kieran Jacobson at email: Helen.Jacobson@usace.army.mil and a copy shall be emailed to Mr. David A. Kaplan, Contracting Officer at email: David.A.Kaplan@usace.army.mil. The offer must be signed and dated by an authorized official of the company. Electronic submissions via e-mail are required.
c. Offerors must provide price information in addition to the subtotal for each Task and the total price to complete the required services. Price information must include the hourly rate (fully burdened) proposed for each labor category and the quantity of labor hours per each labor category per each task.
d. To be eligible to receive an award resulting from this Combined Synopsis Solicitation, Contractors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database, no exceptions. To register, please visit http://www.sam.gov. Offerors must receive a minimum rating of Green/Acceptable for Factors 1 and 2 and a minimum rating of Neutral Confidence for Factor 3.
e. Offer Content: See section IV – Factor 1 and 2, above
6. CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDITIONS
The following provisions and clauses apply to this acquisition and can be viewed electronically at https://www.acquisition.gov/ in accordance with 52.252-1. The use in this solicitation of any Department of Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (48 CFR Chapter 2) provision with an authorized deviation is indicated by the addition of "(DEVIATION)" after the name of the regulation.
The Following Provisions and Clauses Are Incorporated by Full Text:
FAR 52.212-2: Evaluation -- Commercial Items
The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers:
(i) Technical Capability
(ii) Management Approach and Structure Plan
(iii) Past Performance
(iv) Price Factor 1 – Technical Capability is more important than Factor 2 – Organizational Management and Structure which is more important than Factor 3 – Past Performance.
The non-price factors, when combined, are significantly more important than the price.
A written notice of award or acceptance of an offer, mailed or otherwise furnished to the successful offeror within the time for acceptance specified in the offer, shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party. Before the offer’s specified expiration time, the Government may accept an offer (or part of an offer), whether or not there are negotiations after its receipt, unless a written notice of withdrawal is received before award.
FAR 52.212-3 ALT I Offeror Representations and Certifications -- Commercial Items is incorporated by reference in this combine synopsis and solicitation. Offerors must include a statement that certifies the Offeror’s Representations and Certifications are up to date in System for Award management.
FAR 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders.
The following FAR Clauses cited within FAR 52.212-5 are applicable to this acquisition:
| 52.203-6 Alt I |
| Restriction on Subcontract Sales to the Government |
| 52.204-10 |
| Reporting Executive Compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards |
| 52.209-6 |
| Protecting the Government’s Interest When Subcontracting with Contractors Debarred Suspended, or Proposed for Debarment |
| 52.219-8 |
| Utilization of Small Business Concerns |
| 52.219-14 |
| Limitations on Subcontracting |
| 52.219-28 |
| Post-Award Small Business Program Rerepresentation |
| 52.222-21 |
| Prohibition of Segregated Facilities |
| 52.222-26 |
| Equal Opportunity |
| 52.222-35 |
| Equal Opportunity for Veterans |
| 52.222-36 |
| Equal Opportunity for Workers with Disabilities |
| 52.222-40 |
| Notification of Employee Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act |
| 52.222-42 |
| Statement of Equivalent Rates for Federal Hires |
| 52.222-43 |
| Fair Labor Standards Act and Service Contract Labor Standards-Price Adjustment (Multiple Year and Option Contracts) |
| 52.222-50 |
| Combating Trafficking in Persons |
| 52.225-13 |
| Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases |
| 52.226-8 |
| Encouraging Contractor Policies to Ban Text Messaging While Driving |
| 52.232-33 |
| Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer-System for Award Management |
| 52.239-1 |
| Privacy or Security Safeguards |
The following FAR and DFARS Clauses are applicable to this acquisition in addition to those above in the table for clauses within FAR 52.212-5.
| 52.203-11 |
| Certification And Disclosure Regarding Payments To Influence Certain Federal Transactions |
| 52.203-12 |
| Limitation On Payments To Influence Certain Federal Transactions |
| 52.203-18 |
| Prohibition on Contracting With Entities That Require Certain Internal Confidentiality Agreements or Statements--Representation |
| 52.204-7 |
| System for Award Management |
| 52.204-13 |
| System for Award Management Maintenance |
| 52.204-16 |
| Commercial and Government Entity Code Reporting |
| 52.204-18 |
| Commercial and Government Entity Code Maintenance |
| 52.204-19 |
| Incorporation by Reference of Representations and Certifications |
| 52.204-22 |
| Alternative Line-Item Proposal |
| 52.204-24 |
| Representation Regarding Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment |
| 52.212-4 |
| Contract Terms and Conditions – Commercial Products and Services |
| 52.217-5 |
| Evaluation Of Options |
| 52.227-1 |
| Authorization and Consent |
| 52.227-17 |
| Rights In Data-Special Works |
| 52.232-39 |
| Unenforceability of Unauthorized Obligations |
| 52.232-40 |
| Providing Payments to Small Business Subcontractors |
| 52.246-20 |
| Warranty of Services |
| 252.203-7000 |
| Requirements Relating to Compensation of Former DoD Officials |
| 252.203-7002 |
| Requirement to Inform Employees of Whistleblower Rights |
| 252.203-7005 |
| Representation Relating to Compensation of Former DoD Officials |
| 252.204-7000 |
| Compliance With Safeguarding Covered Defense Information Controls |
| 252.204-7003 |
| Control of Government Personnel Work Product |
| 252.204-7006 |
| Billing Instructions |
| 252.204-7008 |
| Compliance With Safeguarding Covered Defense Information Controls |
| 252.204-7012 |
| Safeguarding Covered Defense Information and Cyber Incident Reporting |
| 252.204-7015 |
| Notice of Authorized Disclosure of Information for Litigation Support |
| 252.204-7017 |
| Prohibition on the Acquisition of Covered Defense Telecommunication Equipment or Services - Representation |
| 252.204-7018 |
| Prohibition on the Acquisition of Covered Defense Telecommunications Equipment or Services |
| 252.204-7019 |
| Notice of NIST SP 800-171 DoD Assessment Requirements |
| 252.204-7020 |
| NIST SP 800-171 DoD Assessment Requirements |
| 252.209-7004 |
| Subcontracting With Firms That Are Owned or Controlled By The Government of a Country that is a State Sponsor of Terrorism |
| 252.223-7006 |
| Prohibition On Storage, Treatment, and Disposal of Toxic or Hazardous Materials |
| 252.225-7012 |
| Preference For Certain Domestic Commodities |
| 252.225-7048 |
| Export-Controlled Items |
| 252.225-7052 |
| Restriction on the Acquisition of Certain Magnets, Tantalum, and Tungsten |
| 252.225-7056 |
| Representation Regarding Business Operations with the Maduro Regime |
| 252.225-7072 (Dev) |
| Prohibition on the Procurement of Foreign-Made Unmanned Aircraft Systems (DEVIATION 2020-O0015) |
| 252.225-7073 (Dev) |
| Prohibition on the Procurement of Foreign-Made Unmanned Aircraft Systems - Representation (DEVIATION 2020-O0015) |
| 252.227-7000 |
| Non-estoppel |
| 252.227-7015 |
| Technical Data--Commercial Items |
| 252.227-7016 |
| Rights in Bid or Proposal Information |
| 252.227-7037 |
| Validation of Restrictive Markings on Technical Data |
| 252.232-7003 |
| Electronic Submission of Payment Requests and Receiving Reports |
| 252.232-7010 |
| Levies on Contract Payments |
| 252.232-7017 |
| Accelerating Payments to Small Business Subcontractors--Prohibition on Fees and Consideration |
| 252.243-7001 |
| Pricing Of Contract Modifications |
| 252.243-7002 |
| Requests for Equitable Adjustment |
| 252.244-7000 |
| Subcontracts for Commercial Items |
| 252.247-7023 |
| Transportation of Supplies by Sea |
| CUI | |
| See FAR 2.201 and 3.104 | 1 |
| CUI | |
| See FAR 2.101 and 3.104 | 1 |
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