Combined Synopsis Solicitation 50310221Q0120.pdf

COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION RFQ 50310221Q0120

General Information

Document Type: Combined Synopsis-Solicitation RFQ Number: 50310221Q0120 Posted Date: August 24, 2021 Response Date: September 1, 2021 at 10:00AM ET Set Aside: Total Small Business Set-Aside NAICS Code: 519130

NOTE: The SEC will only accept responses from companies that currently have a product that meets all requirements in Attachment 1 – Requirements List. The SEC is NOT seeking sources for development of a new product. Offerors shall clearly state in their response that the commercial solution is currently available and offeror meets all requirements in the matrix – Attachment 2. Additionally, all offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (www.sam.gov) by the submission deadline of this RFQ.

Contracting Office Address

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Office of Acquisitions 100 F Street, NE Washington, DC 20549

Description

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement is the only solicitation; quotes are being requested, and a written solicitation will not be issued. It is the offeror's responsibility to monitor this site for the release of amendments (if any).

Combined synopsis/solicitation number 50310221Q0120 is issued as a request for quotation (RFQ) and shall be referenced on any quote submitted.

The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2021-06, dated July 12, 2021. Provisions and clauses incorporated by reference have the same force and effect as if they were given in full text.

The North American Industrial Classification Systems (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 519130 and the business size standard is 1,000 employees. This combined synopsis/solicitation is set aside 100% for Small Business.

Subscription: The requirement is for access via the Internet to current information on small cap financing transactions conducted in the U.S. capital markets by either domestic or foreign issuers.

Anticipated Period of Performance: Base period of 12 months and four (4) 12-month option periods

Place of Delivery: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street, NE, Washington DC, 20549.

A list of line item number(s) (including option(s), if applicable). See the attached quote sheet, which shall be provided with your quotation.

The provision at FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors – Commercial Items (July 2021), applies to this acquisition. The following addenda to FAR provision 52.212-1 applies to this acquisition:

The SEC reserves the right to not make award resulting from this solicitation and the SEC will not pay any contractor quote/bid costs for this solicitation.

Quotation Requirements: A written technical quote and a separate written price quote are required for this solicitation. The price attachment includes a Requirements Matrix that must be completed with the quote. Your quote must be based on the terms of this RFQ.

Any exceptions, deviations or conditional assumptions to the requirements of the solicitation must be clearly stated and explained within the first two pages of both the technical and price quote. Exceptions, Deviations, and conditional assumptions may render your company’s offer non-compliant and ineligible for award.

Quotation Submission and Due Dates: Offerors shall submit quotes electronically to bryantm@sec.gov later than 10:00AM ET, September 1, 2021. All questions shall be submitted to bryantm@sec.gov no later than 3:00PM ET, August 26, 2021. Oral questions (telephone) will not be addressed.

Offerors shall follow the guidelines below in preparing its response. All documents should be submitted electronically in MS Word/Excel or compatible format using Times New Roman Font, Font Size 11, with 1.00 inch page margins.

Technical Quotation:

1. Offerors shall submit product offering brochure/information that demonstrates their technical ability to meet all of the requirements outlined in the Requirements List. The offeror’s technical quote must provide specific details on how the company’s product will fully meet the SEC’s technical requirements. There is a 10 page limitation, excluding cover page for the written technical quote. The technical quote shall not refer to any pricing information.

mailto:bryantm@sec.gov

2. The SEC reserves the right for a gratuitous product demonstration. Offerors shall be prepared to provide a product demonstration of their product to the SEC via WebEx presentation. The product demonstration shall be no longer than 60 minutes with the last 15 minutes reserved for questions and answers. Offerors will be sent a meeting invitation for the demonstration.

Price Quotation:

The SEC requests a fixed price quote that provides a separate price for the Base Period and each Option Period CLIN using Attachment 2 – Pricing/Requirements Matrix. The price quote shall include a breakdown that shows the price of each pricing element if there are separate price elements. The SEC requests all available price discounts. There is no page limitation for the price quote. The price quote must provide the offeror’s Dun and Bradstreet number (DUNs) and must confirm that the offeror has active registration in the System Award Management (www.sam.gov).

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS: All prospective awardees are required to have an active SAM registration at time of quote submission and are required to maintain an active registration during the life of the contract. SAM can be accessed at https://www.sam.gov.

The provision at FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation – Commercial Items (Oct 2014) applies to this acquisition. The following addenda to FAR provision 52.212-2 applies to this acquisition:

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. Below is a description of the evaluation procedures that the SEC will use to evaluate quotes received for this solicitation:

In accordance with FAR 13.106-2, the SEC has broad discretion in fashioning suitable evaluation procedures. The SEC intends to use comparative evaluation of quotes to determine the best response. The SEC will use comparative evaluation for both price and technical capability: The SEC will compare quotes with each other in a uniform and fair manner. It is an assessment of which response is “best” as a whole.

The SEC reserves the right to select a response that provides benefit to the SEC that exceeds the minimum but is not required to do so. Responses may exceed the minimum requirements but the SEC is not requesting or accepting alternate quotations.

The SEC will first evaluate each quote using two Go/No Go factors as follows:

1. The offeror must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (www.sam.gov) by the deadline submission of this solicitation: 10:00AM ET, September 1, 2021.

2. Requirements in the Requirements Matrix – Attachment 2 (does not include nice-to-have)

Information from the quote will be used to determine whether the quote meets or does not meet the Go/No Go Factors. Only quotes that meet both Go/No Go factors will be considered for further evaluation. Any responses that do not clearly demonstrate that the offeror meets both Go/No Go Factors will be eliminated from the competition.

Offerors that meet both Go/No Go Factors will move forward in the evaluation. The SEC will then use comparative evaluation of the quotes that meet both Go/No Go factors to determine the best response. The SEC will compare technical quotes and price quotes with each other in a uniform and fair manner to determine which quote provides the SEC what it needs. It is an assessment of which response is “best” as a whole. The SEC reserves the right to select a response that provides benefit to the SEC that exceeds the minimum but is not required to do so. Responses may exceed the minimum requirements but the SEC is not requesting or accepting alternate quotations.

Once the SEC determines the offeror that is best-suited (i.e., the apparent successful offeror), the SEC reserves the right to communicate with only that offeror to address any remaining issues, if necessary, and finalize a purchase order with that offeror. These issues may include technical and price. If the parties cannot successfully address any remaining issues, as determined pertinent at the sole discretion of the government, the government reserves the right to communicate with the next best-suited offeror based on the original analysis and address any remaining issues. Once the SEC has begun communications with the next best-suited offeror, no further communications with the previous offeror will be entertained until after the purchase order has been awarded. This process shall continue until an agreement is successfully reached and a purchase order is awarded.

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).

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.

The offeror shall include a completed copy of the provision at 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certification–Commercial Items (Oct 2018), with its offer. An offeror shall complete only paragraphs (b) of this provision if the offeror has completed the annual representations and certifications electronically via http://www.acquisition.gov. If an offeror has not completed the annual representations http://www.acquisition.gov/ and certifications electronically at the System for Award Management (SAM) website, the offeror shall complete only paragraphs (c) through (o) of this provision.

The following FAR provisions and clauses apply to this solicitation:

52.204-7, System for Award Management (OCT 2018); 52.204-13, System for Award Management Maintenance (OCT 2018); 52.204-16, Commercial and Government Entity Code Reporting (AUG 2020); 52.204-18, Commercial and Government Entity Code Maintenance (AUG 2020); 52.204-25, Prohibition on Contracting for Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment (AUG 2020);

52.204-26, Covered Telecommunications Equipment or Services-Representation (Oct 2020); 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions – Commercial Items (OCT 2018);

52.225-25, Prohibition on Contracting with Entities Engaging in Certain Activities or Transactions Relating to Iran-Representation and Certifications (JUN 2020); 52.232-40, Providing Accelerated Payments to Small Business Subcontractors. (DEC 2013)

52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders - Commercial Items (JUL 2021) applies to this acquisition. In Section b, the following clauses apply:

• 52.204-10, Reporting Executive compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards (Jun 2020)

• 52.209-6, Protecting the Government’s Interest When Subcontracting with Contractors Debarred, Suspended, or Proposed for Debarment (Jun 2020)

• 52.219-6, Notice of Total Small Business Set-Aside (MAR 2020)

• 52.219-28, Post Award Small Business Program Rerepresentation (Mar 2020)

• 52.222-3, Convict Labor (June 2003)

• 52.222-21, Prohibition of Segregated Facilities (Apr 2015)

• 52.222-26, Equal Opportunity (Sep 2016)

• 52.222-35, Equal Opportunity for Veterans (Jun 2020)

• 52.222-36, Equal Opportunity for Workers with Disabilities (Jun 2020)

• 52.222-37, Employment Reports on Veterans (Jun 2020)

• 52.222-50, Combating Trafficking in Persons (Jan 2019)

• 52.223-18, Encouraging Contractor Policies to Ban Text Messaging while Driving (Jun 2020)

• 52.225-13, Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases (Jun 2008)

• 52.232-33, Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer— System for Award Management (Oct 2018)

FAR 52.217-8 Option to Extend Services (NOV 1999) The Government may require continued performance of any services within the limits and at the rates specified in the contract. These rates may be adjusted only as a result of revisions to prevailing labor rates provided by the Secretary of Labor. The option provision may be exercised more than once, but the total extension of performance hereunder shall not exceed 6 months. The Contracting Officer may exercise the option by written notice to the Contractor within contract performance.

FAR 52.217-9 Option to Extend the Term of the Contract (MAR 2000)

(a) The Government may extend the term of this contract by written notice to the Contractor at any time within the period of performance provided that the Government gives the Contractor a preliminary written notice of its intent to extend 7 days before the contract expires. The preliminary notice does not commit the Government to an extension.

(b) If the Government exercises this option, the extended contract shall be considered to include this option clause.

(c) The total duration of this contract, including the exercise of any options under this clause, shall not exceed 60 months.

FAR 52.252-2 Clauses Incorporated by Reference (FEB 1998) This contract incorporates one or more clauses by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer will make their full text available. Also, the full text of a clause may be accessed electronically at this/these address(es): http://www.acquisition.gov/far/.

Applicable SEC Instructions:

5003.05 Submission of Invoices - DELPHI eInvoicing System (FEB 2021)

a. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will only accept electronic invoices submitted through the Delphi eInvoicing system.

b. Payment system registration. All persons accessing the Delphi eInvoicing web-portal will be required to have their own unique user Delphi eInvoicing ID and password and be credentialed through login.gov.

(1) Electronic authentication. See www.login.gov for instructions. Click on the following link for instructions on establishing a login.gov account: https://login.gov/help/creating-an-account/how-do-i-create-an-account-with-logingov/.

(2) To create a login.gov account, the user will need a valid email address and a working phone number. The user will create a password and then login.gov will reply with an email confirming the email address.

(3) In order to set up a new user account or make changes to existing vendor Delphi eInvoice users who will submit invoices through the eInvoicing web-portal for payment and tracking purposes, notify iSupplier@sec.gov and include the contract/order number, the user's full name, valid email address (group mailboxes are not recommended), and current phone number of all vendor users. Vendor users will be notified via e-mail when http://www.acquisition.gov/far/ the account is created. The vendor user will be provided detailed instructions for logging into their Delphi eInvoicing account.

(4) Training on Delphi. To facilitate use of DELPHI, comprehensive user information is available at http://einvoice.esc.gov

(5) Account Management. Vendors are responsible to contact the Delphi Help Desk when their firm's points of contacts will no longer be submitting invoices so they can be removed from the system. Instructions for contacting the Delphi Help Desk can be found at http://einvoice.esc.gov

c. Contractors are cautioned against submitting an invoice prior to goods and services being received/accepted. Invoices submitted prematurely may be rejected. Software license maintenance and subscriptions may be invoiced at the beginning of the contract period of performance.

d. The SEC's Delphi eInvoicing system is managed by the Enterprise Services Center (ESC). In order to receive payment and in accordance with the Prompt Payment Act, all invoices submitted as attachments in the Delphi eInvoicing web-portal shall contain the following:

(1) Company logo or letterhead

(2) Company name and payment address

(3) Company Point of Contact (POC) for the invoice with phone and e-mail

(4) Invoice number and invoice date

(5) Billing period

(6) SEC Contract number

(7) Task/Delivery Order number (if applicable)

(8) SEC Contracting Officer's Representative (COR name)

(9) Amount billed (by CLIN), current and cumulative

(10) Total amount billed this period

(11) Cumulative total billed to date

(12) Brief Description of Services Performed - General description only

e. If the contract includes allowances for travel, all invoices which include charges pertaining to travel expenses will catalog a breakdown of reimbursable expenses with the appropriate receipts to substantiate the travel expenses.

5004.00 Appointment Of Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) (APRIL 2021)

a. A Securities and Exchange Commission COR has been designated for administration and information relating to this contract. The SEC may also assign one or more Alternate CORs for this contract. The COR may not re-delegate his or her authority; only the CO has this authority. A COR Appointment Letter (and ACOR

Appointment Letter if applicable) detailing the designations will be e-mailed to the contractor.

b. The COR will manage the contract in coordination with the CO and within the terms of the contract. The COR’s responsibilities include reviewing invoices and charges by the Contractor, informing the CO of areas where exceptions are taken, and accepting or rejecting invoices in the SEC’s financial system. The COR shall be the primary point of contact responsible for communicating administrative guidance for on-boarding and off-boarding of Contractor Personnel, mandatory trainings, government closures, and other events as necessary. Unless otherwise specified in this contract, inspection and acceptance of supplies and/or services to be furnished under this contract will be performed by the COR.

c. Only the CO has the authority to change the terms and conditions of this contract.

The COR may request a contract modification, but the CO will make the final determination. The COR may not agree to or issue a change to the contract terms and conditions. In the event the Contractor effects changes to the contract at the direction of any person other than the CO, the changes will be considered to have been made without any authority and no adjustments will be made to the contract.

6002.00 Type of Contract (JUN 2020)

This is a Firm Fixed Price type contract/agreement.

6012.02 SEC 508 Requirements (JUNE 2020)

a. Pursuant to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d), as amended by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, all Information and Communication Technology (ICT) products and services developed, acquired, maintained, and/or used under this contract/order must comply with the Information and Communication Technology Accessibility Provisions set forth by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (also referred to as the “Access Board”) in FAR 39.203(a).

The complete text of Section 508 Final Provisions can be accessed at Section 508 Law.

b. All ICT products must comply with the following requirements. Descriptions of the requirements are viewable at the link Section 508 Standards.

c. Offerors that fail to demonstrate compliance with the above requirements, may be eliminated from further consideration for award.

d. The offeror shall indicate for each line item in the schedule whether each product or service is compliant or non-compliant with the accessibility requirements at 36 CFR 1194 using a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT 2.4). Further, the solicitation response must indicate where full details of compliance can be found (e.g., vendor’s website or other exact location).

e. Offerors to this solicitation must provide any additional detailed information necessary for determining applicable Section 508 standards conformance. If an offeror claims its products and/or services, including ICT deliverables such as electronic documents, web content or electronic reports, meet applicable Section 508 standards, and it is later determined by the Government – i.e., after award of a contract/order, that products and/or services delivered do not conform to the described accessibility, remediation of the products and/or services to the level of conformance specified in the contract will be the responsibility of the offeror at its expense.

6014.00 Use of Contractor Data and/or Materials (Mar 2009)

The Contractor acknowledges and agrees to the following: The SEC anticipates using the data and/or materials to conduct analyses for use in reports, studies, memoranda, and presentations. The SEC anticipates the following types of situation where analyses based on underlying data may be made public: by the SEC itself (E.g., SEC rulemaking and/or analysis done as part of an inspection or enforcement action), by SEC staff where the SEC is directing or facilitating the publication (e.g., a staff study in response to a Congressional request), by SEC staff facilitating their own private publication where the Commission has not taken a position regarding the publication of the analysis(e.g., a research report to be submitted by the individual staff to an academic conference or journal), and a former employee of the SEC who has substantially completed the analysis while on staff and is facilitating his/her own private publication( e.g., a research report to be submitted to an academic conference or journal). In all of these situations, only “insubstantial amounts” of the licensed data and/or material would be made public and no raw data would be made public, the authors would agree to abide by all contractual terms and conditions, and as the owner/licensor of the data the Contractor would receive attribution and be cited as the data source. “Insubstantial amounts” means an amount that has no independent commercial value and could not be used as a substitute for the service or product or any part of it.

Quote Submission

Quotes must be submitted via email only to Melody Bryant; bryantm@sec.gov NLT September 1, 2021/10:00AM ET. Paper copies of this solicitation will not be issued and telephone, fax, or email requests for the solicitation will not be accepted.

Place the Solicitation number (50310221Q0120) within the subject line of your submittal.

**It is the offeror’s responsibility to ensure that electronically submitted quotes are received by the Government by the due date.

Attachments:

Requirements List Pricing/Requirements Matrix

52.204-7, System for Award Management (OCT 2018); 52.204-13, System for Award Management Maintenance (OCT 2018); 52.204-16, Commercial and Government Entity Code Reporting (AUG 2020); 52.204-18, Commercial and Government Entity Code Maintenance (AUG 2...