Combined Synopsis-Solicitation Tanker Data.docx

COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial products or commercial services prepared in accordance with the format in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotations are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued.

The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2022-08.

I. IDENTIFYING INFORMATION

Request for Quotations (RFQ) Number: 89303023QEI000036

Project Title: Tanker Data

Agency: Department of Energy (DOE) – Energy Information Administration (EIA)

Agency Point of Contact: Katherine Bowen, Contracting Officer, Katherine.Bowen@hq.doe.gov NAICS Code and Size Standard: The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition 519290 - Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services. The small business size standard is 1,000 employees.

II. DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENTS FOR ITEMS TO BE ACQUIRED

a. Description of Requirement

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Office of Energy Analysis (OEA), International Energy Analysis Team (IEA) has the requirement to procure global oil inventories data and crude oil, petroleum products, and liquefied natural gas tanker data. These data should provide insight into commodities movements and oil inventories outside of the United States and fill a current gap in data that will support and inform internal analyses and other analytic products.

b. List of line item number(s) and items, quantities, and units of measure (including option(s), if applicable).

c. Requirements for Items to be Acquired

Quoter must give a breakdown of the pricing for each CLIN listed above and provide a description demonstrating that the offered services meet the requirements of Attachment 1 - Statement of Work (SOW). This can be accomplished in Attachment 3 – Price Proposal Excel Spreadsheet.

d. Order Type

The Government contemplates award of a Firm Fixed Price-type purchase order.

e. Notice of Order Set-Aside

This order request is 100% set aside for Small Business utilizing Simplified Acquisition Procedures in accordance with FAR Part 13.

f. Submission of Written Questions

All questions regarding this task order request shall be submitted via email to the Contracting Officer, Katherine Bowen, at Katherine.Bowen@hq.doe.gov no later than 12/13/2022 at 12 pm ET. The Government intends to answer questions on or about 12/14/2022. Questions received after this date and time may not be answered prior to the closing date/time for receipt of responses. Quoters are encouraged to verify with the Contracting Officer that all submitted questions have been received.

g. Date and place of delivery and acceptance and FOB point.

The anticipated start date is January 16, 2023.

III. STATEMENT OF WORK

Attachment 1 – Statement of Work

IV. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance of the resultant Purchase Order will be five (5) years, consisting of a one-year base period and four (4) one-year option periods.

V. CONTRACT REQUIREMENT(S) OR TERMS AND CONDITIONS

· The provision at FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Products and Commercial Services, applies to this acquisition. Addenda to the provision as follows:

(c) Period for acceptance of offers. The quoter agrees to hold the prices in its offer firm for 180 calendar days from the date specified for receipt of offers, unless another time period is specified in an addendum to the solicitation.

(d) Product samples. – deleted

(e) Multiple offers. – deleted

(i) Availability of requirements documents cited in the solicitation. – deleted

· The provision at FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation-Commercial Products and Commercial Services, will not be used. See Section IX. EVALUATION FACTORS AND EVALUATION METHODOLOGY below for evaluation procedures.

· Quoters shall include a completed copy of the provision at FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Products and Commercial Services, with its offer. This response must include the vendor’s size status for NAICS code 519290 - Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services. The small business size standard is 1,000 employees.

· The clause at FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Products and Commercial Services, applies to this acquisition.

· The clause at 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required To Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Products and Commercial Services. The following additional FAR clauses cited in this clause are applicable to this acquisition: see Attachment 2 –Terms and Conditions.

VI. ADDITIONAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENT(S) OR TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Attachment 2 – Terms and Conditions

VII. RESPONSE PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS AND SUBMISSION

a. General Instructions for Responses

Contractors are strongly encouraged to carefully review the Statement of Work, evaluation criteria, and these submittal instructions when providing the written response.

Contractors must submit their written response in three separate files: Volume 1 – Offer and Other Documents (Adobe PDF or Word); Volume 2 – Technical (Adobe PDF); and Volume 3 – Price (Attachment 3 – Price Proposal Excel Spreadsheet). Use letter-sized (8-1/2” X 11”) pages, single-spaced, with one-inch (1”) margins. One page equals one side of a sheet of paper. Any pages in excess of the page limitations imposed on the technical submission herein may not be considered.

Number the pages consecutively and use a 12-point font size in an easily readable font, such as Times New Roman, Calibri or Arial. Eleven (11) point font size and single spacing are acceptable for any tables, graphics, and illustrations; however, do not submit an abundance of information in chart format. The page limitations shown below do not include any “front matter” information such as a cover letter, table of contents, and definitions or acronyms. Any technical or pricing information submitted within the “front matter” will not be considered.

b. Technical Submission Instructions

Volume 1 – Offer and Other Documents (Unlimited pages)

(a) General. Volume 1 shall include a letter, signed by an authorized official of the Quoter, formally submitting the quotation. In order to be considered for this award, vendors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM), www.sam.gov.

(b) Administrative information. Quoters shall provide the following information:

(1) Solicitation number.

(2) Quoter name. Name, address, telephone and facsimile number, e-mail, and Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) of the quoter.

(3) Authorized signatory. Name and title of person authorized to sign the proposal.

(4) Negotiators. Name(s), title(s), telephone and email addresses of persons authorized to negotiate on the quoter’s behalf.

(c) Quoter shall include a statement of the validity of the quotation for 180 days.

(d) The quoter must acknowledge receipt of all amendments to the solicitation, if applicable.

(e) Quoter shall include a completed copy of the provision at FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Products and Commercial Services, with its offer. This response must include the vendor’s size status for NAICS code 519290 - Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services. The small business size standard is 1,000 employees.

(f) Exceptions and deviations.

(1) Exceptions and/or deviations are not sought, and the Government is under no obligation to enter into exchanges related to such. If a quoter takes exception to or deviates from the terms and conditions of the proposed order or other provisions of the solicitation, each exception and deviation shall be specifically identified and fully explained. Any exceptions or deviations must also identify the applicable solicitation section, clause or provision number, paragraph number, and the proposal volumes to which the exception or deviation applies. In addition to identifying this complete information in Volume 1, any deviations or exceptions shall be repeated in the other volumes to which the deviation or exception applies – Volumes 2 and 3. Only exceptions or deviations specifically identified in this section, if accepted by the government, will take precedence over the terms and conditions of the solicitation.

(2) Any exceptions or deviations by the quoter to the terms and conditions stated in the solicitation for the resulting contract may make the offer unacceptable for award without exchanges. If a quoter proposes exceptions or deviations to the terms and conditions of the contract, then the Government may make an award without exchanges to another quoter that did not take exception to the terms and conditions of the contract.

Volume 2 - Technical Proposal (5 pages)

Page Limitation is 5 pages (1 page for Criterion 1 – Required Capability; 3 pages for Criterion 2 – Technical Approach; 1 page for Criterion 3 – Usability). Cover page and Table of Contents are not included in this page limitation.

Criterion 1 – REQUIRED CAPABILITY (GO/NO-GO REQUIREMENT)

1 page

Criterion 2 – TECHNICAL APPROACH (BEST VALUE TRADE-OFF)

3 pages

Criterion 3 – USABILITY (BEST VALUE TRADE-OFF)

1 page

c. Price Submission Instructions

Volume 3 – Price Proposal

Pricing information shall be submitted via completed Attachment 3 – Price Proposal Excel Spreadsheet.

VIII. RESPONSE DUE DATE, SUBMISSION MODE AND LOCATION

Responses to this RFQ are due December 21, 2022 prior to 12:00 pm ET. Proposals received after the closing date and time will not be evaluated.

All questions and proposal submissions shall be submitted via email to the Contracting Officer, Katherine Bowen, at Katherine.Bowen@hq.doe.gov.

Quoters should allow ample time to submit proposals and are encouraged to submit proposals at least 24 hours in advance of the closing time of this solicitation (see above). In addition, Quoters are encouraged to verify with the Contracting Officer (CO) that all submitted files have been received prior to the closing time of the solicitation.

The Quoter shall ensure that messages/documents are virus-free prior to transmission. Transfer of a virus may result in non-acceptance of the respondent’s proposal.

52.209-2 PROHIBITION ON CONTRACTING WITH INVERTED DOMESTIC CORPORATIONS REPRESENTATIONS (JUL 2009)

52.209-5 CERTIFICATION REGARDING RESPONSIBILITY MATTERS (AUG 2020)

52.209-7 INFORMATION REGARDING RESPONSIBILITY MATTERS (OCT 2018)

52.212-3 OFFEROR REPRESENTATIONS AND CERTIFICATIONS-COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS AND COMMERCIAL SERVICES (OCT 2022)

52.217-5 EVALUATION OF OPTIONS (JUL 1990)

Except when it is determined, in accordance with FAR 17.206(b), not to be in the Government's best interests, the Government will evaluate quotes for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. Evaluation of options will not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s).

DOE-L-2015 QUOTE ACCEPTANCE PERIOD (OCT 2015)

The Quoter’s bid/quote shall be valid for 180 calendar days after the required due date for bids/quotes.

DOE-L-2016 NUMBER OF AWARDS (OCT 2015)

It is anticipated that there will be one (1) award resulting from this solicitation. However, the Government reserves the right to make any number of awards, or no award, if it is in the Government's best interest to do so.

DOE-L-2017 EXPENSES RELATED TO QUOTER SUBMISSIONS (OCT 2015)

This solicitation does not commit the Government to pay any costs incurred in the submission of any quote or bid, or in making necessary studies or designs for the preparation thereof or for acquiring or contracting for any services relating thereto.

DOE-L-2021 GUIDANCE FOR PROSPECTIVE QUOTERS - IMPACT OF TEAMING ARRANGEMENTS ON SMALL BUSINESS STATUS (OCT 2015)

(a) This procurement has been set aside for small business. In order to ensure that award is made to an eligible small business, prospective quoters, in consultation with legal counsel, are encouraged to review the Small Business Administration's (SBA's) size eligibility standards found at Title 13 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 121 (13 C.F.R. § 121). In particular, quoters proposing a joint venture, subcontracting, or another form of teaming arrangement shall review 13 C.F.R. § 121.103, "How does SBA determine affiliation?" prior to submitting a quote.

(b) The SBA is the sole authority for making determinations of small business status for small business programs. Such determinations are binding on the Quoter and the Contracting Officer. Accordingly, a finding by the SBA of affiliation between an Quoter and its proposed team member(s) or subcontractor(s)may result in the Quoter being found to be other than a small business and therefore ineligible for award.

DOE-L-2026 SERVICE OF PROTEST (OCT 2015)

(a) Protests, as defined in section 33.101 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, that are filed directly with an agency, and copies of any protests that are filed with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), shall be served on the Contracting Officer (addressed as follows) by obtaining written and dated acknowledgement of receipt from:

Name: Katherine Bowen E-mail: Katherine.Bowen@hq.doe.gov

(b) The copy of any protest must be received in the office designated above within one day of filing a protest with the GAO.

(c) Another copy of a protest filed with the GAO must be furnished to the following address within the time periods described in paragraph (b) of this clause:

U.S. Department of Energy Assistant General Counsel for Procurement and Financial Assistance (GC-61) 1000 Independence Avenue, S.W.

Washington, DC 20585 Fax: (202) 586-4546

DOE-L-2027 NOTICE OF PROTEST FILE AVAILABILITY (OCT 2015)

(a) If a protest of this procurement is filed with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in accordance with 4 CFR part 21, any actual or prospective Quoter may request the Department of Energy to provide it with reasonable access to the protest file pursuant to 48 CFR 33.104(a)(3)(ii), implementing section 1605 of Public Law 103-355. Such request must be in writing and addressed to the Contracting Officer for this procurement.

(b) Any Quoter who submits information or documents to the Department for the purpose of competing in this procurement is hereby notified that information or documents it submits may be included in the protest file that will be available to actual or prospective quoters in accordance with the requirements of 48 CFR 33.2014(a)(3)(ii). The Department will be required to make such documents available unless they are exempt from disclosure pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act. Therefore, quoters shall mark any documents as to which they would assert that an exemption applies. (See 10 CFR part 1004.)

DOE-L-2028 AGENCY PROTEST REVIEW (OCT 2015 )

Protests to the agency will be decided either at the level of the Head of the Contracting Activity or at the Headquarters level. The Department of Energy’s agency protest procedures, set forth at 48 CFR 933.103, elaborate on these options and on the availability of a suspension of a procurement that is protested to the Department. The Department encourages potential protestors to discuss their concerns with the Contracting Officer prior to filing a protest.

IX. EVALUATION FACTORS AND EVALUATION METHODOLOGY

DOE intends to award a single purchase order to the responsible Quoter whose quotation is responsive to the solicitation and determined to be the best value and most advantageous to the Government. The Government may perform a comparative analysis (comparing offers to each other) to select the contractor that is best suited and provides the best value, considering the evaluation criteria in this solicitation. Best value is defined in FAR Part 2, as the expected outcome of an acquisition that, in the Government’s estimation, provides the greatest overall benefit in response to the requirement. Best value will be achieved utilizing the Trade-Off Methodology.

Criterion 1, Required Capability, is a Go/No-Go Requirement. The vendor must agree to the requirement described therein.

If the vendor agrees to the requirement and receives an Acceptable/“Go” rating for Criterion 1, Required Capability, then the Government will evaluate the vendor for Criterion 2, Technical Approach, and Criterion 3, Usability, via a best value trade-off evaluation (described below).

EVALUATION CRITERIA - The following criteria will be used to evaluate the contractor’s quote:

CRITERION 1: REQUIRED CAPABILITY (GO/NO-GO CRITERION)

The Government will evaluate quotes using the following Go/No Requirement:

Data can be republished & shared. Provider must allow EIA to publish aggregated tanker data in various EIA products, including Today in Energy (TIE) and Country Analysis Briefs. Aggregated and disaggregated data may be shared with other stakeholders within the Department of Energy to support the agency mission. EIA may also share aggregated data with other companies to assess the provider’s accuracy.

EVALUATION OF CRITERION 1:

The data provided must be permitted to be republished and shared by EIA. A quotation will be determined to be “No-Go” if a vendor chooses “VENDOR DISAGREES” for this requirement. A Quoter that is “No-Go” under Criterion 1 will be ineligible for further consideration for award, and the respective Quoter will be notified by the Government. Quotations deemed “Go” in Criterion 1 will be evaluated under Criteria 2 and 3 using a best value trade-off methodology.

CRITERION 2: TECHNICAL APPROACH (BEST VALUE TRADE-OFF CRITERION)

The technical approach shall demonstrate the Quoter’s ability to provide the data as required in the SOW. The Quoter’s technical approach should not be a reiteration of the tasks in the SOW, but a demonstration with examples of how the offeror meets or exceeds the requirements. Examples may include screen shots of the data, supplemental pamphlets or handouts describing data available, etc.

EVALUATION OF CRITERION 2:

The Government will evaluate the Quoter’s Technical Approach to assess the degree to which the submission demonstrates an adequate understanding and capacity to meet or exceed the requirements, technical scope, and level of complexity of the SOW task areas.

CRITERION 3: USABILITY (BEST VALUE TRADE-OFF CRITERION)

The Quoter's interface will be reviewed to ensure ease of use, ability to access required data, and the ability to perform functions as required in the SOW. This will include a review of how navigable the data is (ease of browsing, searching, sorting, etc.); how complete the data is (does it account for all dates, locations, etc. as required in the SOW); and how portable the data is (can it be exported to XLSX or CSV and is the data savable and shareable). The Government will also evaluate the ease in which users are able to navigate independently with limited instructions.

EVALUATION OF CRITERION 3:

The Government will evaluate the user-friendliness of the Quoter’s interface through access to a currently maintained account or guest account that evaluators can view/navigate to determine ease-of-use. Quoter shall supply log-in information and limited log-in and navigation instructions, which shall not exceed the 1-page limit noted in Section b. Technical Submission Instructions, Volume 2 - Technical Proposal.

CRITERION 4: PRICE PROPOSAL

Price evaluation will consist of a review of the price portion of a vendor’s quotation to determine if the resulting overall price to the government is fair and reasonable.

EVALUATION OF CRITERION 4:

The Government will evaluate Criterion 4 (Price) separately from the evaluation of Criteria 1, 2 and 3. Factor 4 (Price) will be evaluated for fairness and reasonableness and will include the total of all Firm Fixed Price CLINS.

X. SELECTION AND AWARD

BEST VALUE: In determining the best value, the Non-Price Evaluation Factors (Criteria 1, 2, and 3), when combined, are significantly more important than the evaluated price (Criterion 4).

Specifically, the Government is more concerned with obtaining a superior technical offer than making an award at the lowest evaluated price. However, the Government will not make an award at a price premium it considers disproportionate to the benefits associated with the evaluated superiority of one technical offer over another. Thus, to the extent that Quoters’ technical proposals are evaluated as close or similar in merit, the evaluated price is more likely to be the determining factor. The Government intends on making an award selection based on initial offers received, so each proposal must contain the Quoter’s best offer; however, the Government reserves the right to request revised offers if later determined by the Contracting Officer to be necessary.

The evaluation criteria for Volumes 2 and 3 are listed below in descending order of importance:

1. Criterion 1 – Required Capability is the most important criterion (NOTE: this factor is not part of the comparative analysis and will be evaluated on the go/no-go basis described above.);

2. Criterion 2 – Technical Approach is the second most important criterion;

3. Criterion 3 – Usability is the third most important criterion; and

4. Criterion 4 – Price is the least important criterion. (NOTE: this factor is not part of the comparative analysis and will be evaluated for reasonableness.)

AWARD ON INITIAL RESPONSES: The government anticipates selecting the best- suited contractor from initial responses, without engaging in exchanges with contractors. Contractors are strongly encouraged to submit their best technical solutions and price in response to this RFQ.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS: Following receipt of responses to this RFQ, the Government will perform a comparative analysis (comparing contractor responses to one another) to select the contractor that is best suited to fulfill the requirements, based on the contractors’ responses to the factors outlined in this task order request and their relative importance.

EXCHANGES WITH BEST-SUITED CONTRACTOR: Once the government has completed initial evaluations and determines the contractor that is the best-suited (i.e., the apparent successful contractor), the government reserves the right to communicate with only that contractor to address any remaining issues, if necessary, and finalize an order with that contractor. 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 contractor based on the original analysis and address any remaining issues.