Notice_of_Intent_-_RVS_FY15.doc

ACTION: Pre-solicitation Notice/Notice of Intent to Sole Source

SOLICITATION NUMBER: D15PS00396

SET-ASIDE: N/A

CONTRACTING OFFICE:

Acquisition Services Directorate

381 Elden Street, Suite 4000

Herndon, VA 20170

POINT OF CONTACT:

Joshua Watkins, Contracting Officer

703-964-3684 Joshua_Watkins@ibc.doi.gov PLACE OF PERFORMANCE: Minneapolis, MN 55455

SUBJECT:

Pre-solicitation Notice/Notice of Intent to Award a Sole Source Contract—“Providing Online Project Reporting for RMA Risk Management Education Programs”

DESCRIPTION:

The US Department of Interior, through its Franchise Fund activity, Acquisition Services Directorate (AQD), intends to award a contract to the University of Minnesota’s Center for Farm Financial Management (CFFM), on behalf of the US Department of Agriculture, Risk Management Agency (RMA). This award is intended to be done on a non-competitive basis for the purpose of providing and maintaining the Results Verification System (RVS) for one base year and two optional years.

The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 requires accountability and reporting of funds expended on behalf of the Government. To that end, RMA requires a reporting vehicle that correlates the funds used against the work completed, as well as the Budget Narrative. RMA monitors the activities of the education and outreach cooperative agreement awardees (hereafter referred to as “recipients”) in quarterly reports and a final report that is submitted to the Results Verification System (RVS). The final report, when accepted, is published on the Ag Risk Library providing the public information on how the funds were used and the results of the work done. The system RMA uses must protect PII data, provide statistical information such as when reports are submitted, what reports are missing, when final reports are published, and partner observation of demographics.

RMA is currently using a portion the Results Verification System in order to comply with the requirements of the Transparency Act. This portion of the RVS was created by the University of Minnesota, Center for Farm Management (CFFM) for the National Institute for Food and Agriculture, USDA, for use by their university extension agents nationwide.

CFFM customized the RVS to meet RMA needs which included, but was not limited to : (1) transparency of funded projects through publication of the project’s final report on the National Ag Library website; (2) access to the system by partners to report materials created, meetings held, producer attendance, work completed by the partners including performance based results; and (3) access to the system by designated RMA employees to complete required administrative functions as well as monitor the performance of the work done.

As the developer of the RVS, the CFFM holds all of the data necessary for the continued implementation, upgrades, and maintenance of this program. In addition, the CFFM also holds the propriety rights to the methodology, icons and software of the RVS.

ACQUISITION APPROACH: The Government anticipates that the requirement will be fulfilled by a Firm-Fixed-Price contract. The Government intends to pursue a sole source award utilizing FAR Part 12 and FAR Part 13.5, "Test Program for Certain Commercial Items." The North American Industries Classification Code (NAICS) is 611310 “Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools” with a small business size standard of $27.5 million. The Product Service Code (PSC) is U099 “Education/Training- Other.” The anticipated award date of the contract is 05/28/2014. A vendor must be registered at http://www.sam.gov to be awarded the contract.

THIS NOTICE IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE PROPOSALS. THE GOVERNMENT INTENDS TO AWARD THIS REQUIREMENT NONCOMPETITIVELY IAW FAR 13.5 AND 41 U.S.C. 1901.

Contractors who believe they are capable of meeting the performance requirements should contact the Contracting Officer by electronic mail at Joshua_Watkins@ibc.doi.gov by 2:00 PM (ET), May 04, 2015.