Combined Synopsis and Solicitation 19GE5020Q0020 Land Mobile Radio Service Maintenance U.S. Embassy Beirut.pdf

COMBINED SYNOPSIS & SOLICITATION

United States Consulate General Frankfurt

Land Mobile Radio Service Maintenance

U.S. Embassy Beirut

SOLICITATION NO. 19GE5020Q0020

Issued by:

American Consulate General

Regional Procurement Support Office

Giessener Strasse 30

60435 Frankfurt am Main

Germany

AMERICAN CONSULATE GENERAL

Regional Procurement Support Office

Giessener Strasse 30

60435 Frankfurt am Main

Germany

Tel: (49) 69 7535 3319

E-mail: gallonea@state.gov

April 30, 2020

Combined Synopsis and Solicitation

Solicitation Number 19GE5020Q0020

The Regional Procurement Support Office Frankfurt hereby provides the following Combined

Synopsis and Solicitation for:

Land Mobile Radio Service Maintenance

U.S. Embassy Beirut

Synopsis:

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice.

This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; offers are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. The solicitation number is 19GE5020Q0020 and is issued as a

Request for Quotes (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular FAC 2020-04, effective January 15, 2020.

Contract Type:

The Government intends to award a single, firm fixed-price contract to the responsible offeror whose offer is evaluated as the lowest-priced and technically acceptable. The total price shall include all labor, equipment, delivery charges, materials, overhead, profit, insurance, and all other expenses necessary to deliver the required equipment.

No additional sums will be payable on account of any escalations in the cost of materials, equipment, or labor, or because of the Contractor’s failure to properly estimate or accurately predict the cost or difficulty of achieving the results required by this contract. Nor will the contract price be adjusted on account of fluctuations in currency exchange rates.

Term of Contract:

This contract shall be effective from the date of the Contracting Officer’s signature and is intended for a service of 365 days. Start of the service is required within 15 calendars days of award.

Location is in Greater Beirut and Mount Lebanon Regions.

VAT Exemption:

Companies needs to be registered in Lebanon in order to receive VAT exemption, and that registration automatically makes that company liable to pay income tax in Lebanon.

Compliance with Specifications:

Offerors shall also provide with their offer, at a minimum, existing product literature to substantiate the acceptability of their offered products in accordance with the specifications provided in this document.

Coordination:

The Contractor shall coordinate the delivery with the Point of Contact. Upon award POC information will be provided.

Payment Schedule and Invoice Submission (Fixed-Price)

The Contractor will be paid on monthly basis, within 30 days after the issuance of the invoice.

PROPOSED SERVICES

The requested service maintenance agreement details the set of maintenance services to be delivered in order to facilitate the effective management and operations of the ISF-LMR TETRA network and related components (Management software, Servers, SCN, Microwave network, Base stations, Control rooms).

The maintenance agreement defines the deliverables to be provided by the maintenance provider fulfilling the requirements of the agreement and describes:

• The maintenance services delivered to the ISF

• The service commitments agreed by the service maintenance provider

• The responsibilities of the service maintenance provider in contributing to service effectiveness

For all network components the maintenance period shall have a duration of 365 days from the contract Notice to Proceed date.

Service Maintenance Agreement Level Structure

The purpose of this agreement is to maintain the ISF-LMR TETRA system properly in order to allow the ISF technical team to operate, administrate and manage the system independently and continuously. This purpose is achieved by:

• Defining the procedures and the organization to perform efficiently the system maintenance.

• Achieving the maximum continuity of the system operation, by an agreement with the service maintenance provider that assists the ISF organization with strategic support services.

• Supporting directly the ISF with any needed service for the entire system.

• The service maintenance provider shall provide the necessary material to maintain the system (spare parts, diagnostic tools, documentation) in order to be well operated by the ISF.

The service maintenance support scheme is structured as following:

• Network management services: to support the correct operations of the network.

• On-site services: to ensure the major continuity of the ISF-LMR TETRA network operation, with timely on-site maintenance interventions and with a qualified local technical labor and support.

• Support services: to facilitate the effective management and operations of the ISF-LMR

TETRA network.

Network Management Services

This activity consists of controlling and monitoring the status of the equipment running in the network, checking the alarm status and activating the on-site services or the support services provider; this will be the ISF technical team’s responsibility.

According to this definition, the following services are included:

1. Network Management Administration

This set of activities is required in order to properly manage and administrate the network.

Moreover, these activities are aimed to execute the corrective maintenance by the maintenance provider as needed.

The tasks assigned to the Network Management Administration are:

System Management

• Provide information relevant to the network or subscriber’s configuration.

• Collect call logs for analysis.

• Perform a regular backup of data.

Event and Fault Management

• Recover through real-time actions critical situations by applying maintenance and work-around procedures.

• Collect information, logs and data about faults or events generated by the network elements.

• Activate the maintenance provider field engineers for on-site troubleshooting activities and for corrective maintenance, whenever necessary.

• Coordinate, open cases, and issue tickets with the equipment and software manufacturers in order to troubleshoot problems not solved through the maintenance procedures.

Configuration Management

• Usage of the NMS facilities to create, modify, display, activate, remove, etc. all the system elements.

D. On-Site Services

The purpose of the support provided is to ensure the proper execution of troubleshooting methodology and provide an effective maintenance provider team to help ISF better manage and utilize the ISF-LMR TETRA network to its full potential.

The overall set of the on-site services is summarized as follows:

1. Network Maintenance

The key purpose of this service is to support the ISF in its reported problems, investigate in detail all issues reported by the ISF, organize proper tabulation of issues, and issuance of a Problem

Report Form (PRF) that provides detailed analysis of the issues incurred.

This service is aimed to the establishment of technical liaisons with the ISF and the consequent further transfer of the (on-job) skills and knowledge.

Preventive Maintenance

The scope of Preventive Maintenance is to carry-out a set of pre-defined and scheduled activities in order to check the system parameters, to restore whenever necessary the initial parameters, and to replace the eventual faulty equipment in coordination with the ISF. The aim is to prevent any technological and performance degradation within the network. The modules to be checked and investigated as well as the preventive maintenance procedures to be adopted are detailed within the technical documentation related to each specific network element.

The preventive maintenance sessions should be scheduled and done by the Service Maintenance provider, in coordination with the ISF technical team, periodically at least on a three months basis.

Corrective Maintenance

The purpose of this service is to resolve each Hardware fault identified by the Network

Management Administration throughout the network. The Network Management Administration will activate a corrective maintenance task on site whenever an alarm is raised at NMS level and the related problem cannot be fixed through a simple Network Management operation. In this case a field engineer from the Service Maintenance Provider company is dispatched on site in order to:

- Troubleshoot the Hardware problem and identify the faulty part

- Replace the faulty part

- Perform the test routines and additional checks in order to verify the correct operational status both at equipment level and network level after replacement.

2. Spare Parts Management

The corrective maintenance service as above described shall be performed using a stock of spare parts provided by the Service Maintenance Provider.

The management of this stock shall guarantee the availability of a suitable spare part whenever required by the maintenance provider field engineers during corrective maintenance operations on site.

However, the Service Maintenance Provider shall guarantee on site a minimum set of spares that are considered critical.

Once replaced the faulty part shall be delivered to the Repair Center in order to be repaired and shall be returned to the local spare parts stock as soon as delivered back.

3. Emergency Support

In case of emergency (network down or system serious or major alarm), a quick and resolving intervention from the Service Maintenance Provider is essential to ensure the best network availability performance.

For this purpose, in case of emergency, the Maintenance Provider will intervene immediately and within two hours to restore the system functionalities.

The Service Maintenance Provider engineers will have to provide off-hours assistance until the actual emergency problem is resolved or is decreased in severity.

At the end of the activity a technical report will be issued in order to keep trace of the network state, the fault type, and the applied recovery action.

E. Support Services

The purpose of the Support Services provided is to allow the ISF to properly operate, administrate, and manage the network during the Service Maintenance support period.

The Maintenance Provider provides directly a package of support services in order to assist the

ISF during the Service Maintenance support period.

The Maintenance Provider has the responsibility for the hardware as well as the software delivered products that involves the technical authority for the repair of modules and the debugging of software source codes.

The services provided are:

1. Help Desk

The Help Desk Service is the channel used to exchange information between the Service

Maintenance Provider and the ISF.

The Help Desk Service provides the necessary assistance to the ISF in order to solve any non-urgent request that may occur during the daily operation of the network.

2. Remote Telephone Support

The Remote Telephone Support is the technical service which supports the Help Desk service in order to give all technical clarifications and information necessary to manage each specific

Hardware query up to its solution and clearance.

Moreover, the Remote Telephone Support will support the ISF in order to troubleshoot non-urgent problems during any anomalous situation signaled by the ISF technical team. In this case a further investigation is performed through the following steps:

• Based on the information received by the ISF, some further indications are given to the ISF technical team in order to perform an in-depth troubleshooting procedure, to apply temporary workaround solution, to collect logs, or to perform additional tests on the network.

• A remote connection with the network may be activated in order to verify the configuration, the applications status, and the service status and in order to gather the necessary information directly from the system.

3. Software Maintenance

The purpose of this service is to ensure the resolution of Software problems.

Whenever a software defect is detected or suspected, the ISF organization will create a fault report in order to inform the Help Desk about the defect.

The Service Maintenance Provider will start investigations about the supposed software defect by performing in-house tests. Work-around may be suggested to the ISF organization in order to avoid any degrade of service within the network.

After conclusion of the software defect analysis, the Service Maintenance Provider issues a final and detailed statement related to the original fault report with evidence of the planned corrective actions and solutions that shall be provided to the ISF organization.

The defect resolution time will be based on the level of severity agreed between the ISF and the

Service Maintenance Provider during periodical service review meetings.

Each software corrective package will be installed at network infrastructure and network components level by the Service Maintenance Provider depending on the nature of the package and on the network element involved. The installation of the software corrective packages will be the responsibility of the Service Maintenance Provider.

The network upgrading operations on field will start after ISF Network Management

Administration approval.

4. Hardware Repair

The Hardware repair service consists of a set of activities aimed to correct any hardware fault related to the network infrastructure modules.

The repair service Turn-Around-Time (TAT) is established in 30 working days from the receiving date at factory of the faulty part. However, in the event the faulty product would affect totally or partially the network service, an equivalent shall be delivered within 24 hours from the date of notification.

The Repair Service shall cover the hardware fault even if it is related to any reason including direct or indirect lightning.

If the faulty module cannot be repaired and delivered back to the ISF organization within the target timeframe, the Service Maintenance Provider must replace it with an equivalent one; in this case the ISF shall bear the customs duty.

For all repair activities to be performed out of Lebanon, the Service Maintenance Provider shall be responsible of the packing and delivery of the faulty/repaired parts from the ISF warehouse to

Beirut airport to destination and vice versa. The Service Maintenance Provider shall bear all the freight charges.

In case the repair activities will involve third parties located in Lebanon, the faulty parts shall be delivered by the Maintenance Provider directly to third parties’ premises.

Back to back contracts can be made by the Service Maintenance Provider with manufacturers or vendors to assure providing the ISF with the needed spare parts, software, support, and services for the overall good functionality and performance of the ISF-LMR TETRA System.

5. Technical Audit

The Technical Audit Service provides through specific on-site technical audit sessions a comprehensive end-to-end network analysis aiming to assess the whole network behavior, collect significant data from the network, and analyze collected data through dedicated reports.

The Service Maintenance Provider will arrange on site technical audit sessions aiming to perform a network infrastructure “health-check”.

In order to facilitate each technical audit session, the ISF will be requested to:

• Provide all necessary resources and support in order to allow performing the due activities

(i.e. access to sites, office facilities)

• Make available to Service Maintenance Provider staff all necessary available documents relevant to the system

• Assist providing entry visas to maintenance provider personnel who will carry out the service if needed.

6. Customer Support Manager and Service Review Meeting

The Service Maintenance Provider will guarantee to the ISF a key reference figure as the manager of all aspects mentioned in this Service Level Agreement. This professional figure will integrate the maintenance provider Project Team as Customer Support Manager. The Customer Support

Manager is in charge of covering the following issues:

• Execution of scheduled conference calls to review the open issues. (i.e. field alerts , repair status, failure analysis)

• Issue of periodic service metrics and case trend analysis for ISF review.

• Execution of on-site visits to discuss topics that have impact on network operation.

• Answering questions for designated contacts and co-ordinate prescheduled support by phone.

Service Review Meetings will be held between Customer Support Manager and the ISF representatives on a periodical basis to present high-level performance statistics based on the agreed Service Maintenance Contract.

APPLICABLE CLAUSES AND PROVISIONS

The selected Offeror must comply with the following commercial item terms and conditions, which are incorporated herein by reference: FAR 52.203-17 Contractor Employee Whistleblower

Rights and Requirement To Inform Employees of Whistleblower Rights, FAR 52.204-19

Incorporation by reference of Representations and Certifications; 52.204-24 Representation

Regarding Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillances Services or Equipment: 52.204-

25 Prohibition on Contracting for Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment; FAR 52.204-26 Covered Telecommunication Equipment or Services-

Representations; FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors - Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition; FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications - Commercial Items (Dec

2019)– to be completed with other certifications and submitted with the offer; FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions - Commercial Items, 52.214-34, 52.232-40, 52.247-35, 652.232-

70, 652.242-73 and 652.243-70; FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to

Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items - the applicable clauses under paragraph (b) items: 4, 7, 12, 26, 27, 28(i), 33(i), 42, 55, 60(i); 52.233-4 Applicable Law Breach of Contract Claim. The full text of the referenced FAR and DOSAR clauses may be accessed electronically at https://www.acquisition.gov/far/ and https://gov.ecfr.io/, respectively.

INSTRUCTION TO OFFERORS

Addendum to FAR 52.212-1 Instruction to Offerors – Commercial Items (Oct 2018)

Pursuant to FAR 12.302(d), the provision at FAR 52.212-1, Instruction to Offerors – Commercial

Items (Oct 2018) is augmented as follows: Preparation of Offers – Offerors shall prepare and submit its offer in two (2) volumes as set forth below.

Volume I – Prices

Volume II – Technical proposal

BASIS OF AWARD

The Government intends to award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror (as determined within the meaning of FAR Part 9, paragraph 9.104), whose offer conforms to the solicitation and is determined to be the lowest price technically acceptable offer. Evaluation will be based on FAR 52.212-2, as provided in this solicitation.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Applicable laws and regulations:

Solicitation and award will be subject to laws and regulations of the United States of America.

PREPARATION OF OFFERORS

Offerors shall prepare and submit offers via email only. In addition, offerors shall complete and submit the following:

(i) 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications—Commercial Items (Dec 2019)

The offeror shall complete FAR 52.212-3 Representations and Certifications – Commercial Items

(Dec 2019). This provision is accessible via https://www.acquisition.gov/far/.

SUBMISSION OF OFFERS

The complete offer submission shall include:

(1) Price Offer and Representations and Certifications

(2) Technical Capability – Completed Technical Compliance Matrix and descriptive literature

Offers and all supporting documentation shall be submitted via email only to:

Gallonea@state.gov

Andrewsg@state.gov

OFFER DUE DATE

Offers shall be submitted as soon as possible but not later than 1600 hrs Central European

Summer Time (CEST) on Monday, May 25, 2020. Late offers will not be considered.

52.212-2 Evaluation – Commercial Items (Oct 2014)

(a) The Government shall award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer is the lowest priced, technically acceptable. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offerors:

1. Price;

2. Technical capability of the item offered to meet the Government requirement

3. Past performance

(b) Options. The Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. The Government may determine that an offer is unacceptable if the option prices are significantly unbalanced. Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s).

(c) 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.

(End of provision)

Other Evaluation Requirements:

- An offer MUST be valid for 30 calendar days after submittal.

- Offerors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database before an award can be made to them. If the offeror is not registered in the SAM, it may do so through the

SAM website at https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/.

- A completed copy of the “Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items”, as provided under FAR clause reference 52.212-3 must be submitted with the offer.

- 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.

52.225-17 Evaluation of Foreign Currency Offers (Feb 2000)

If the Government receives offers in more than one currency, the Government will evaluate offers by converting the foreign currency to United States currency using http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h10/current/ in effect as follows:

(a) For acquisitions conducted using sealed bidding procedures, on the date of bid opening.

(b) For acquisitions conducted using negotiation procedures–

(1) On the date specified for receipt of offers, if award is based on initial offers; otherwise

(2) On the date specified for receipt of proposal revisions.

Eric N. Moore

Contracting Officer