B01.01 CSS - W912HQ23R0006 - Waterborne Foreign Transportation Data dated 2023.07.13.docx

Combined Synopsis/Solicitation Number: W912HQ23R0006 Title: U.S. Waterborne Foreign Transportation Data

I. GENERAL INFORMATION

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items 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. Offers are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. This solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2023-04, dated 2 June 2023.

A Firm Fixed Priced (FFP) award will be made in accordance with the following:

This acquisition is being solicited unrestricted and is open to both small businesses and other than small businesses. The North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 519290 Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services: with a size standard of $21,000,000.00.

II. NATURE OF ACQUISITION:

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center (WCSC) has a requirement to purchase the services stated below. This procurement will be awarded under Simplified Acquisition Procedures. All questions must be received by Thursday, 20 July 2023, 4:30 pm eastern US. Proposals must be received no later than Wednesday, 2 August 2023, 4:30 pm eastern US. Electronic proposals submitted via email are required. Email questions and proposals to the Contract Specialist, 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.

III. SCHEDULE OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES:

This contract will require the contractor to provide the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center (WCSC) with comprehensive monthly U.S. foreign transportation data similar to manifest data collected by U.S. Customs Border and Protection (Customs) or the Bills of Lading filed by the ship lines to Customs for all U.S. imports, exports and in-transit waterborne commerce to and from foreign countries.

The contractor shall provide all personnel, equipment, supplies, facilities, transportation, tools, materials, supervision, and other items and non-personal services necessary to perform the investigation and documentation as defined in this Performance Work Statement (PWS) except for those items specified as government furnished property and services. The contractor shall perform to the standards in this contract.

Background. On September 28, 1998 the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) designated the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) as the "central collection agency" for the U.S. Foreign Waterborne Transportation Statistics Program (FWTSP) effective October 1, 1998. The U.S. Bureau of the Census (Census) was previously responsible for this program. This decision followed a review of the U.S. Foreign Waterborne Transportation Statistics program at the direction of OMB. The Corps collects and publishes the data pursuant to its authority under the 1922 River and Harbor Act (33 U.S.C. 555) by which it has historically collected and published waterborne commerce statistics.

The FWTSP requires manifest data that provides the associated cargo and vessel movement transaction data upfront, unlike trade data. In-transit records are included in the manifest dataset, which are movements of foreign cargo through the U.S. from one foreign country to another foreign country. Inbound waterborne in-transits enter the U.S. via marine vessel and outbound waterborne in-transits exit the U.S. via marine vessel.

Tasks: The data provided to WCSC shall include information where available on the date and trade direction; carrier and shipment details; cargo, weight and container details; product descriptions and codes; geographic indicators; shippers, consignees and notify parties; and processing information. The minimum data elements to be included in the database are provided below. The coded data items shall be compatible with the data furnished by Customs. The reported commodity description shall be coded to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule commodity codes. The data shall be sent in electronic format. Updated information to previously delivered data shall be provided upon request.

Considerations. Purchase of these data by the USACE constitutes purchase by a government agency. As such, the data may be used internally by any USACE office without violating any copyright restrictions.

Deliverables and Schedule.

Period of Performance:

The period of performance is stated according to task. Please see details in PWS

Place of Performance:

The Offeror’s facility. See the Performance Work Statement (PWS) for additional information.

IV. BASIS FOR AWARD

All offers will be comparatively evaluated based on the factors described below: Technical and Price. Offers must be submitted using the CLIN structure below in Factor 2 - Price.

FACTOR 1 – TECHNICAL:

The Offeror must submit a technical proposal detailing how the Offeror’s investigation and documentation meet the 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.

Subfactor 1.1 – Technical Data

The Government will assess the quality of the offerors understanding of and knowledge of the performance requirements; the quality of data coverage per each field of data; and the Offeror’s ability to meet the required period of performance/delivery dates. Specific capabilities to be presented for consideration in offeror proposals include:

1. Capability to associate cargo data with Customs & Border Protection Vessel Movement data collected on CBP Form 1400 Vessel Entrance records and CBP Form 1401 Vessel Clearance records by vessel direction, Customs District, Customs Port, and Manifest Sequence Number with 95%+ accuracy

2. Presence of IMO number on greater than 95% of records measured by cargo tonnage;

3. Capability to deliver upon request within 30 days updates to data previously delivered;

4. Comprehensive data dictionaries for

a. Customs Districts and Ports outlined in Schedule D (see Schedule D - Codes (census.gov));

b. HS commodity codes (6-digit);

c. Foreign Port Codes outlined in Schedule K (see Appendix F – Schedule K (cbp.gov))

5. Web-based query tools and/or research support for ad-hoc user questions

6. Edit procedures or other automated quality enhancements applied to cargo records to promote accuracy in

a. Association with CBP Entrance and Clearance records as outlined above;

b. Cargo tonnages;

c. Commodity classifications;

d. U.S. port name and code;

e. Foreign port name and code.

Subfactor 1.2 – USACE Data Rights

The Government will assess whether the proposal allow sufficient USACE data rights and whether the proposal identifies potential challenges which may occur as a result of providing the required data. The evaluation will also consider the degree to which the proposed usage rights provides assurance that the services will meet the program’s requirements and the minimum requirements set forth in the PWS.

FACTOR 2 – PRICE

This factor will use price analysis to determine the total evaluated price. The price factor will be evaluated for price reasonableness in accordance to FAR 13.106-2. The price to be analyzed is the total price inclusive of the base and all options.

Contract Line Items: This requirement and associated contract line-item numbers (CLIN) are provided below (also are contained below within the PWS):

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.

These two factors: Technical Capability, and Price will be comparatively evaluated. Technical capability is more important than price.

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).

V. QUOTE PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS

52.212-1 ADDENDUM - INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS – COMMERCIAL ITEMS (Jan 2017) 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 Mr. David A. Kaplan, Contract Specialist 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 pricing for the total price to complete the required services, the hourly rate proposed for each labor category and subtotal cost of labor for each of the labor categories.

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.

e. Offer Content: See section IV – Factor 1 and 2, above

VI. 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 Reference:

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) Price The Technical Capability factor is slightly more importance than 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:

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.