Diplomatic License Plate Decals SOW.docx

OFM Decal Contract SOW 02/01/2023

U.S. Department of State Office of Foreign Missions

Decal Contract Statement of Work

1. BACKGROUND

The U.S. Department of State’s Office of Foreign Missions (OFM) was created under the authority of the Foreign Missions Act (FMA) of 1982 and has four distinct missions: 1) employment of reciprocity to ensure equitable treatment for United States diplomatic and consular missions abroad and their personnel through reciprocity; 2) regulation of the activities of foreign missions in the United States in a manner that will protect the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States; 3) protection of the United States public from abuses of privileges and immunities by members of the foreign missions; 4) provision of service and assistance to the foreign mission community in the United States to assure appropriate privileges, benefits, and services on a reciprocal basis. Foreign missions and international organizations in the United States, as well as their eligible members, are required to register their vehicles with OFM to ensure compliance with the mandated liability insurance requirements. A registration decal is affixed to one license plate on each vehicle. These decals are distributed to foreign missions and their members upon initial vehicle registration or registration renewal. The decals are either placed on a new license plate or over a previously placed decal.

2. OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this contract is to provide decals for use by OFM. This is not a United States Government federal fleet operation. Decals are issued with license plates or registration renewals that are issued to non-U.S government-owned vehicles only. The contract will require production of registration decals on an annual basis.

3. SCOPE OF WORK

The contractor will provide all personnel, resources, and supplies necessary to fulfill the requirements of this contract. OFM will order 24,000 decals per year with the specifications outlined below. Please see the last page of this statement of work for decal examples showing font style and size requirements.

DIMENSIONS

Each decal must be 1.5” (width) x 1” (height).

COLOR

The diffuse (daytime) and reflected (nighttime) color of the decal surface must conform to a standard color sample acceptable to OFM before the start of production. To complete a five-year color cycle, the proposed colors per year are as follows: 2025 – Yellow; 2026 – Red; 2027 – Green; 2028 – Blue; 2029 – White.

PAPER QUALITY

The paper must be a colored, reflective sheeting that is visible and distinguishable in daylight and darkness and visible from over 100 meters away. The decal surface must be covered with a single coat of protective clear finish to warrant the ink's color fastness against outside environmental exposure and cleansing agents for the prescribed visual service life of one year (as opposed to the adhesive service life of five years).

ADHESIVE

The reverse side of the decal must contain an adhesive to make it difficult to remove from a license plate. The adhesive must be of such quality that the decal can be applied easily to a license plate that is attached to a vehicle. The decal must become adhered by placing it upon the surface of a license plate or upon the surface of a previously applied license plate decal by rubbing with moderate pressure, and must remain in place, complete and intact, for the life of the license plate issue. The adhesive must withstand oven-drying temperatures up to a maximum of 182°C (360°F) without melting, running, or exuding from the edges of the sheeting material.

The adhesive must not react in such a manner to cause decals to stick together during packaging, shipping, and distribution. The adhesive must have no staining effects on the reflective material and must permit application to the prescribed surfaces at temperatures of 0.6°C (33°F) and above. The supplier is liable for all losses and will furnish replacement sheeting for the defective sheets if the adhesive runs, melts, or exudes from the sheeting edge at any time during the manufacturing process or within a period of 18 months after the sheeting purchase.

PERFORATED LINER ROLLS

The decals must be delivered on rolls of perforated liner of a material consistent in quality and thickness and must not cause distortion of the sheeting face during printing, drying, die-cutting, or shear-cutting operations. The liner must be detachable from the adhesive by peeling without the necessity for soaking in water or solvents. The liner must remain easily removable from the adhesive after accelerated storage of four hours at 66°C (150°F) under a weighted pressure of 17 kPa (2.5 lb. per square inch).

The sheeting and liner combination will be required to maintain integrity at drying temperatures up to 182°C (360°F) without curling, peeling at the corners, blistering, shrinking, or exuding adhesive.

The dimensions of one liner widget containing one decal are: 1.625” width x 1.375” height. The decal placement on each liner widget must be right-left centered but placed so that 0.3125” of liner is exposed above the decal.

THICKNESS

Variance in decal sheeting thickness (sheeting, excluding adhesive) must not exceed +0.0381 mm (0.0015 in.) or -0.0127 mm (0.0005 in.) from the thickness of the sheeting submitted and pre-qualified. Total thickness of sheeting, adhesive, and protective liner must not exceed 0.305 mm (0.012 in.). Base weight of the protective liner paper must be 36 kg (80 lb.), ±5%.

VISUAL CHARACTERISTICS

The decal must carry a unique identifier specific to the license plate and vehicle to which the decal is assigned. The text must be printed in a color (black, white, or blue) which best contrasts its background and provides optimum legibility. “USDOS” must be printed vertically along the left margin of each decal. The month and year in digit form (mm-yy) must be displayed prominently to the right of center, and a unique five-digit numeric code must be printed in sequential order from 00001 to 02000 (per one month’s batch each containing 2,000 decals) across the bottom margin.

4. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

The place of performance will be the contractor’s own facilities.

5. TRAVEL

Travel is not required.

6. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

This contract shall be effective on the date of the contracting officer’s signature and shall remain in effect for one calendar year. The term of the contract may be extended at the option of the United States Government for four additional terms. The U.S. Department of State shall provide a written notice to the contractor by a Notice of Intent to Exercise Option within 30 days prior to the expiration period of the contract.

7. SECURITY REQUIREMENTS

Each decal must include an integral security mark, which would make unauthorized decal reproduction unlikely and extremely difficult if attempted. The decals currently employed by OFM contain the contactor’s proprietary security feature which consists of the image of the U.S. Department of State seal that repeats and runs vertically through the decal. It is visible only when viewed head-on at about a 30-degree angle to the horizontal. It "disappears" from view at other angles. This angularity provides an image that is difficult to copy and does not interfere with decal legibility.

The marks must be readily discernible when viewed under diffuse daylight conditions at a distance of 1.8 m (6 ft). When a sample is held at 0.6 m (2 ft) from the eyes and viewed by the light of a standard 'D' cell flashlight held between the eyes at nose level, the security marks must be discernible. Security markings must not be reproducible in other finished reflective sheeting without destruction of their reflective properties. Security markings must not be removable by chemical or physical means from the face of a finished validation sticker, applied or unapplied, without causing irreparable damage of the reflective properties.

8. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

QUANTITY AND PACKAGING REQUIREMENTS

24,000 decals per year to be issued on a total of 84 individual perforated liner rolls; 2,000 decals per month delivered on seven (7) rolls with the following number sequence:

00001-00100 00101-00500 00501-00600 00601-00700 00701-00800 00801-00900 00901-02000

ORDER, PACKAGING AND DELIVERY

The initial delivery is due no later than July 31, 2023 and will include a complete shipment of 24,000 decals each displaying the numeric year code “25” (2025) contained on 84 individual rolls of perforated, flexible, liner rolls to allow for easy peel-away of each decal. The decals must be visible on the outside of the roll. The first reachable decal on each roll must display the lowest numeric code (00001, 00101, 00501, 00601, 00701, 00801, 00901) contained in the roll, while the largest numeric code (00100, 00500, 00600, 00700, 00800, 00900, 02000) is tucked in the center of the roll. When received, all decals and liners must be of uniform size and have no ragged edges, cracks, blisters, or any foreign materials such as sawdust or flakes and chips of sheeting.

Delivery of shipments in following years, if the option to renew is extended, will be due no later than July 31st of each year.

9. QUALITY ASSURANCE SURVEILLANCE PLAN

The contractor’s performance will be evaluated on the timeliness of delivery and the quality of the decals produced. Decal quality will be at the highest level of commercial decals. Performance measures will be monitored continuously by the contractor for compliance.

10. DELIVERABLES

11. CONTRACTING OFFICER’S REPRESENTATIVE (COR)

The COR for this contract is Natasha Marshall.

12. SUBCONTRACTING

If applicable, the contractor is permitted to partner with a subcontractor to fulfill the requirements of this contract. Subcontracting agreement shall be submitted to the contracting officer for approval. Prime contractor shall demonstrate that they do 51% of the work in the Statement of Work.

13. POINTS OF CONTACT

Contractors submitting proposals shall provide a name and phone number for a point of contact (POC), along with any subcontractor’s POC at time of submission.

14. KEY PERSONNEL

All employees under this contract shall be considered key personnel.

Decal Exemplar:

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