Final_Solicitation_5.12.2015.docx

COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION

for

MEDIA MONITORING AND ANALYTIC SERVICE

Synopsis: This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial service prepared in accordance with (IAW) 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; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. Solicitation Number is HSFE70-15-R-0021 and is issued as a Request for Proposal (RFP) IAW FAR Parts 12 and 13, utilizing the test procedures in FAR subpart 13.5.

This solicitation incorporates all mandatory commercial item Provisions and clauses that are in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-79, effective December 15, 2015.

This is a Total Set-Aside for Small Business. The North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code is 519130 and the Small Business Size Standard is 500 employees.

It is the responsibility of the contractor to be familiar with the applicable clauses and provisions as included at Attachment II to the RFP. The clauses may be accessed in full text at:

1. https://www.acquisition.gov/far/

2. http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/dars/dfarspgi/current/index.html.

The Government contemplates awarding a Firm-Fixed Priced contract resulting from this solicitation.

The Office of External Affairs Public Affairs Division’s purpose is to maintain visibility regarding public and internal communications; coordinate routine and special communications; ensure accurate, useful, timely, synchronized, targeted communication; and provide continuous messaging to meet the needs of the situation. The office also serves as an advisor to FEMA program and support offices on decision making, development, and maintenance of policies and programs to ensure that activities are responsive to stakeholder, media, congressional and other audiences.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Office of External Affairs (OEA) Public Affairs Division PAD) is seeking media monitoring and analysis service in comprehensive gathering and publication of news pertaining to FEMA and its various programs in briefings delivered via email each morning to all FEMA employees and approved associates working with FEMA in order to effectively monitor and measure the effectiveness of its public outreach efforts.

1.STATEMENT OF WORK

Overview The attached Statement of Work is to request services that are comprehensive gathering and publication of news pertaining to FEMA and its various programs in three briefings delivered via email each morning to all FEMA employees and approved associates working with FEMA in order to effectively monitor and measure the effectiveness of its public outreach efforts. News briefings shall be in Microsoft Word document format attachments which will also be available online.

2. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE OR REQUIRED DELIVERY

Services will be provided for the period of one eight seven (78) month base period and four (4) one (1) year option years.

3. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

Unless otherwise specified the physical place of performance is at the following address:

Federal Emergency Management Agency/Public Affairs Division 500 C Street SW Washington, DC 20472

4. CONTRACT TYPE: One (1) firm-fixed priced contract.

5. PROPOSAL

Proposal Deadline Offerors are invited to submit their proposals to FEMA Contracting in response to this notice by 10:00 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST), TuesdayTuesday, March 2June 24, 2015.

Only e-mailed requests for additional information will be accepted at Alfredia.Allen@fema.dhs.gov and Karley.Hoyt@associates.fema.dhs.gov through 1:00 PM EST, Thursday, March 19Wednesday, May 27, 20153. Proposals submitted in response to this notice shall include the solicitation number in the subject line and be signed, dated and submitted via email to Alfredia.Allen@fema.dhs.gov and Karley.Hoyt@associates.fema.dhs.gov . Vendors not registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database at the time the requirement is to be awarded will not be considered. Vendors may register with SAM by accessing www.sam.gov.

Proposal Submission The offeror shall submit the follow documents separately in PDF or Microsoft Word as follows:

a. Volume I: Technical Abilities Offerors shall submit a technical quote of no more than 10 pages that provide sufficient information to address the requirements of the attached Statement of Work, addresses the Evaluation Factors outlined in section 752.212-2 Evaluation – Commercial Items listed under Attachment II, Clauses and Provisions of the solicitation document.

b. Past Performance

Satisfactory Past Performance (Pass/Fail)

Have satisfactory past performance. Offerors shall not submit past performance information as part of the response to Evaluation Factor 2 – Past Performance. The government shall obtain relevant performance information on all responsive and otherwise Technically Acceptable Offerors through sources such as CPARS or PPIRS and other sources that are available. The government shall not be limited in its search for performance data. The offeror shall not submit performance data for this factor. When performance is evaluated, the outcome is either satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Unsatisfactory performance will disqualify an offeror from award.

c. Volume III: Price Offerors shall submit their pricing in accordance with the format indicated below:

Base Year: Award date trough 12-month period

Option Year 1: 12-month period

Option Year 2: 12-month period

Option Year 3: 12-month period

Option Year 4: 12-month period

52-217-8: 6-Month

Media Monitoring and Clips Bulletin News Analysis of the FEMA NEWS Clips Comparative Metrics of FEMA and FEMA Partners Lot Lot Lot

Total Not to Exceed (NTE Amount $_________________

ATTACHMENTS

1) Attachment I – Statement of Work

2) Attachment II – Provisions and Clauses

Attachment I

STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW)

FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY

EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MEDIA MONITORING AND ANALYSIS SERVICES

I. BACKGROUND

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Office of External Affairs was created in 2007, bringing together several independent offices and adding two new divisions to enhance a coordinated communications program for the agency.

The Office of External Affairs Public Affairs Division’s purpose is to maintain visibility regarding public and internal communications; coordinate routine and special communications; ensure accurate, useful, timely, synchronized, targeted communication; and provide continuous messaging to meet the needs of the situation. The office also serves as an advisor to FEMA program and support offices on decision making, development, and maintenance of policies and programs to ensure that activities are responsive to stakeholder, media, congressional and other audiences.

II. SCOPE

The contractor shall provide services in comprehensive gathering and publication of news pertaining to FEMA and its various programs in three briefings delivered via email each morning to all FEMA employees and approved associates working with FEMA in order to effectively monitor and measure the effectiveness of its public outreach efforts. News briefings shall be in Microsoft Word document format attachments which will also be available online.

II. REQUIREMENTS AND CRITERIA

FIVE SERVICE DELIVERABLES:

· Executive Version/Summary

· Clips Package

· News Media Analytics

· White House News Summary

· Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Briefing

COMMON TO ALL DELIVERABLES:

· Ability to capture news from virtually all United States, English-language newspapers within an hour or two of when each article first appears on the publisher’s website.

· Ability to capture news from virtually all United States, English-language television broadcasts, including local, national and cable news, within an hour or two of when it was first broadcast. Note: during routine periods, FEMA may, as a cost-saving measure, accept local television only when it appears on broadcasters’ websites, but the vendor must have the capability to capture all television news broadcasts, whether or not it is on the web during emergencies.

· Ability to monitor public social-media websites. FEMA does not anticipate requiring monitoring of social media as a general rule but may require it during emergencies.

· Ability to identify news stories and social-media posts that may have information of interest to FEMA officials, then perform expert-level review of those items to determine not just which are of interest, but which specific parts of the items, if any, are of interest. This requires human review by someone who thoroughly understands FEMA’s mission.

· Ability to isolate those unique pieces of information and use them to write a concise briefing that allows senior officials to focus on the most germane information without being forced to review redundant or irrelevant information.

· Ability to accurately quantify the coverage of FEMA in relation to various news topics (a scale running from positive to negative). Topics will change often based on events. Topics will often be very difficult for software to assess; for example, “FEMA in the context of ‘mitigation.’” Thus expert-level review and consistent application of human judgment are required.

· Ability to deliver a White House News Summary written in the same briefing format as the FEMA Executive Version, although much larger. Drawing from a wide variety of news sources and delivered daily at 5:30 a.m., the Summary covers high level international and domestic policy news that affect all sectors of government. It also covers news about different government departments and agencies in a way that the readers get the facts and tone of the coverage.

· Ability to deliver a Department of Homeland Security News Summary, similar to White House Summary, but covering news about the different agencies within DHS.

· Ability to accurately report to FEMA the following at a minimum: (1) audience size of each item (including an accurate estimate of online audience), (2) prominence of FEMA in the item, (3) breakdown of coverage by type of news-media or social-media outlet, (4) breakdown of news coverage by specific outlet, (5) breakdown of coverage by geographic regions that are defined by FEMA, (6) ability to display all quantitative data in charts and customizable, mobile friendly dashboards, (7) ability for FEMA officials to select custom date ranges and (8) ability to mix categories (e.g., topic by prominence and tone) and trends.

· Ability to publish deliverables via emails that are mobile-friendly, including Android, iPhone and Blackberry friendly.

· Ability to publish deliverables to a secure, vendor-hosted website and also to Kindle.

· Weekday delivery by the deadlines shown next to each deliverable below.

· Ability to provide surge coverage, on a flexible basis, during emergencies. This may mean addition of weekend and/or holiday briefings, updates through the day or night, inclusion of new sources of information not in the normal service (all local TV in an area, social media from targeted sources, addition of Spanish-language sources, etc.). Because emergency events are last-minute and fluid, vendor must be able to be immediately responsive and additions/changes to the service must not be something that must be negotiated prior to delivery in each emergency).

· Vendor to maintain distribution list and be responsible for all distribution.

· Vendor to provide a site-license contract, in which all employees of FEMA may, at FEMA’s discretion, subscribe to be in the daily distribution.

· Vendor to provide means for FEMA to designate an official to add/remove FEMA employees from distribution on a near-immediate basis.

· Vendor to provide means for FEMA, at its sole discretion, to allow employees to self-subscribe and self-unsubscribe from the distribution on a near-immediate basis.

· Vendor to ensure distribution is to FEMA employees only unless there is written consent to expand the distribution.

· Vendor to maintain separate distribution and access rights for each deliverable. For example, one group of employees might see the Executive Version, others see the Full Briefings, and others see the News-Media Analytics.

· Vendor to provide 24/7 customer support, to permit FEMA to request changes to the deliverables even in the middle of the night and right up to each daily delivery deadline.

· Expert analysts to United States citizens who perform their analysis in the United States. This will typically require analysts to work overnight hours to complete their work by the deadlines shown below.

SPECIFIC TO EACH DELIVERABLE

Executive Version/Summary:

· News summary of the day’s top news stories for the agency – typically the top two to five topics.

· Comb through all news identified in the process described above.

· Apply an understanding of policy and other news topics that relate to FEMA and its mission to determine which stories or portions of stories are most important (executive level content).

· Organize the important editorial content by topic, discarding the irrelevant or redundant stories or portions of stories.

· Weave the remaining, highly-relevant material together into the “news briefing” by creating a series of concise write-ups, each of which will often be based on information reported by multiple media outlets.

· Include available hypertext links to each story referenced in the briefing. Thus a reader can simply click a link to get the full-text of the original source story.

· Typically 2-3 pages of distilled content.

· Deliver via mobile-friendly version at 7:00 a.m. ET weekdays, except holidays.

· News in this deliverable must be extremely fresh, generally meaning that which came available overnight, and certainly no older than that was published by 8:30 a.m. ET the previous day.

Full Briefing/Clips – Early Version

· Comb through all items identified in the process described above.

· Apply an understanding of policy and other news topics that relate to FEMA and its mission to determine which stories or portions of stories are most important to a broad FEMA audience.

· Organize the important editorial content by topic, discarding the irrelevant or redundant stories.

· Vendor Option #1: Prepare a distilled briefing of all relevant content (not just “executive-level” content) in the same style as the Executive version. Please provide a price for this approach.

· Vendor Option #2: Prepare a package of full-text clips of all relevant stories (not just “executive-level” content). Provide as many sources as possible in full-text form. Please indicate any sources that cannot be provided in full-text form (complete list). Please explain basis under which vendor’s delivery of full text is copyright compliant. Please provide a price for this approach.

· Combined Options: Please provide a price for both Options if prepared in combination.

· Delivered via secure, vendor-hosted website by 5:30 a.m. ET weekdays, except holidays.

· News in this deliverable must be extremely fresh, generally meaning information which became available overnight, and certainly no older than which was published by news-media outlets by 8:30 a.m. ET the previous weekday.

Full Briefing/Clips – Late Version

· Same requirements as Early Version, but only including items that were published by news-media outlets between 5:30 a.m. ET and 8:30 a.m. ET weekdays, except holidays.

White House News Summary and DHS News Briefing

· Same requirements Executive Version, but with high level news pertaining to the White House Administration and DHS respectively and delivered by 6:00 a.m. ET weekdays, except holidays.

News Media Analytics:

· Service as described above.

· Complete by 8:45 a.m. ET, weekdays, except holidays.

IV. TRAVEL

Training sessions at FEMA HQ in Washington, DC, are not anticipated. Travel and lodging expenses will not be reimbursed.

V. ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA

The contractor shall deliver all products to the COR for approval. Electronic transmission will be the primary delivery mechanism; however, hard copies will be provided as appropriate.

The COR will notify the contractor of deliverable acceptance or provide comments in writing within ten (10) business days of receipt of a deliverable. Within ten (10) business days, the contractor shall resubmit the final deliverable to the COR and Contracting Officer, if necessary.

All data and instruments such as back up, memory and archive tools, processes, studies/research, or other tools and deliverables developed under this contract (to include, without limitation, any survey questionnaires, sampling methodologies, participant lists and resulting analysis) shall be the sole property of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. As such, these materials may be used by FEMA and, upon FEMA direction, its contractors, for future research studies, applicable product development and program and initiatives, creation and development.

VI. PERSONNEL REQUIREMENTS

A. Personnel Security Security requirements shall be based on current Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policy for contractors.

B. Employee Citizenship Each employee of the contractor working on the contract shall either be a citizen of the United States of America or has lawful resident status.

C. Contractor Personnel Administration The Contractor shall be responsible for managing and overseeing the activities of all Contractor personnel, as well as subcontractor efforts used in performance of this effort. The Contractor’s management responsibilities shall include all activities necessary to ensure the accomplishment of timely and effective support, performed in accordance with the requirements contained in the statement of work.

VII. GOVERNMENT-FURNISHED PROPERTY

In accordance with the Government Property clause (52.245-1) of this contract, the Government shall provide, for performance of the effort required, the following:

· Existing contact management data for use in populating historical contacts and interaction on the part of the agency.

· Equipment needed for onsite training if applicable, to include conference room space, computer equipment, conference call connectivity and video teleconference equipment/connectivity if webinar training is not a viable alternative.

VIII. CONFIDENTIALITY OF DATA AND INFORMATION

The contractor may have access to information in the possession of the Government for which the Government’s right to use and disclose the data and information is restricted, or which may be of a nature that its dissemination or use, other than in the performance of this contract, would be adverse to the interests of the Government or other parties. Therefore, the contractor agrees to abide by any restrictive use conditions on such data and not to:

(1) Knowingly disclose such data and information to others without written authorization from Contracting Officer, unless the Government has made the data and information available to the public;

(2) Use for any purpose other than the performance of this contract.

The contractor agrees to hold the Government harmless and indemnify the Government from any cost/loss resulting from the unauthorized use or disclosure of third party data or software by the contractor, its employees, sub-contractors, or agents. While subcontracts are not anticipated under this Statement of Work, if deemed appropriate by both the Government and the contractor, the contractor agrees to include the substance of this provision in all subcontracts awarded under this contract.

Except as the Contracting Officer specifically authorizes in writing, upon completion of all work under the contract, the contractor shall return all data and information obtained from the Government, including all copies, modifications, adaption, or combination thereof, to the Contracting Officer. Any data obtained from another company shall be disposed of in accordance with the contractor’s agreement with that company, or, if the agreement makes no provision for disposition, shall be returned to that company. The contractor shall further certify in writing to the Contracting Officer that all copies, modifications, adaptions or combinations of such data or information which cannot reasonably be returned to the Contracting Officer (or to a company), have been deleted from the Contractor’s (and Sub-Contractor’s) records and destroyed.

IX. ACCESSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS (Section 508) Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, as amended by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-220) requires that when Federal agencies develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology (EIT), they must ensure that it is accessible to people with disabilities. Federal employees and members of the public who have disabilities must have equal access to and use of information and data that is comparable to that enjoyed by non-disabled Federal employees and members of the public.

All EIT deliverables within this work statement shall comply with the applicable technical and functional performance criteria of Section 508 unless exempt. Specifically, the following applicable EIT accessibility standards have been identified:

Section 508 Applicable EIT Accessibility Standards 36 CFR 1194.21 Software Applications and Operating Systems, applies to all EIT software applications and operating systems procured or developed under this work statement including but not limited to GOTS and COTS software. In addition, this standard is to be applied to Web-based applications when needed to fulfill the functional performance criteria. This standard also applies to some Web based applications as described within 36 CFR 1194.22.

36 CFR 1194.22 Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications, applies to all Web-based deliverables, including documentation and reports procured or developed under this work statement. When any Web application uses a dynamic (non-static) interface, embeds custom user control(s), embeds video or multimedia, uses proprietary or technical approaches such as, but not limited to, Flash or Asynchronous Javascript and XML (AJAX) then 1194.21 Software standards also apply to fulfill functional performance criteria.

36 CFR 1194.31 Functional Performance Criteria, applies to all EIT deliverables regardless of delivery method. All EIT deliverables shall use technical standards, regardless of technology, to fulfill the functional performance criteria.

36 CFR 1194.41 Information Documentation and Support applies to all documents, reports, as well as help and support services. To ensure that documents and reports fulfill the required 1194.31 Functional Performance Criteria, they shall comply with the technical standard associated with Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications at a minimum. In addition, any help or support provided in this work statement that offer telephone support, such as, but not limited to, a help desk shall have the ability to transmit and receive messages using TTY.

Section 508 Applicable Exceptions Exceptions for this work statement have been determined by DHS and only the exceptions described herein may be applied. Any request for additional exceptions shall be sent to the COR and determination will be made in accordance with DHS MD 4010.2. DHS has identified the following exceptions that may apply: 36 CFR 1194.3(b) Incidental to Contract, all EIT that is exclusively owned and used by the contractor to fulfill this work statement does not require compliance with Section 508. This exception does not apply to any EIT deliverable, service or item that will be used by any Federal employee(s) or member(s) of the public. This exception only applies to those contractors assigned to fulfill the obligations of this work statement and for the purposes of this requirement, are not considered members of the public.

Section 508 Compliance Requirements 36 CFR 1194.2(b) (COTS/GOTS products), When procuring a product, each agency shall procure products which comply with the provisions in this part when such products are available in the commercial marketplace or when such products are developed in response to a Government solicitation. Agencies cannot claim a product as a whole is not commercially available because no product in the marketplace meets all the standards. If products are commercially available that meet some, but not all of the standards, the agency must procure the product that best meets the standards. When applying this standard, all procurements of EIT shall have documentation of market research that identify a list of products or services that first meet the agency business needs, and from that list of products or services, an analysis that the selected product met more of the accessibility requirements than the non-selected products as required by FAR 39.2. Any selection of a product or service that meets less accessibility standards due to a significant difficulty or expense shall only be permitted under an undue burden claim and requires authorization from the DHS Office of Accessible Systems and Technology (OAST) in accordance with DHS MD 4010.2.

X. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

The contractor shall work primarily at its offices. However, travel to work at such FEMA permanent or temporary facilities as deemed necessary and appropriate (i.e. training sessions) by the COR or Contracting Officer in fulfillment of the terms of the contract may be authorized.

XI. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The Period of Performance for this contract will be one seven (17) Base Yearmonth base and four (4) Option Years, upon the date of contract award.

Attachment II

CLAUSES AND PROVISIONS

52.204-9 Personal Identity Verification of Contractor Personnel. (JAN 2011)

(a) The Contractor shall comply with agency personal identity verification procedures identified in the contract that implement Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 (HSPD-12), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance M-05-24 and Federal Information Processing Standards Publication (FIPS PUB) Number 201.

(b) The Contractor shall account for all forms of Government-provided identification issued to the Contractor employees in connection with performance under this contract. The Contractor shall return such identification to the issuing agency at the earliest of any of the following, unless otherwise determined by the Government:

(1) When no longer needed for contract performance.

(2) Upon completion of the Contractor employee’s employment.

(3) Upon contract completion or termination.

(c) The Contracting Officer may delay final payment under a contract if the Contractor fails to comply with these requirements.

(d) The Contractor shall insert the substance of this clause, including this paragraph (d), in all subcontracts when the subcontractor’s employees are required to have routine physical access to a Federally-controlled facility and/or routine access to a Federally-controlled information system. It shall be the responsibility of the prime Contractor to return such identification to the issuing agency in accordance with the terms set forth in paragraph (b) of this section, unless otherwise approved in writing by the Contracting Officer.

(End of clause)

52.212-1 -- Instructions to Offerors -- Commercial Items (Apr 2014)

(a) North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and small business size standard. The NAICS code and small business size standard for this acquisition appear in Block 10 of the solicitation cover sheet (SF 1449). However, the small business size standard for a concern which submits an offer in its own name, but which proposes to furnish an item which it did not itself manufacture, is 500 employees.

(b) Submission of offers. Submit signed and dated offers to the office specified in this solicitation at or before the exact time specified in this solicitation. Offers may be submitted on the SF 1449, letterhead stationery, or as otherwise specified in the solicitation. As a minimum, offers must show --

(1) The solicitation number;

(2) The time specified in the solicitation for receipt of offers;

(3) The name, address, and telephone number of the offeror;

(4) A technical description of the items being offered in sufficient detail to evaluate compliance with the requirements in the solicitation. This may include product literature, or other documents, if necessary;

(5) Terms of any express warranty;

(6) Price and any discount terms;

(7) “Remit to” address, if different than mailing address;

(8) A completed copy of the representations and certifications at FAR 52.212-3 (see FAR 52.212-3(b) for those representations and certifications that the offeror shall complete electronically);

(9) Acknowledgment of Solicitation Amendments;

(10) Past performance information, when included as an evaluation factor, to include recent and relevant contracts for the same or similar items and other references (including contract numbers, points of contact with telephone numbers and other relevant information); and

(11) If the offer is not submitted on the SF 1449, include a statement specifying the extent of agreement with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation. Offers that fail to furnish required representations or information, or reject the terms and conditions of the solicitation may be excluded from consideration.

(c) Period for acceptance of offers. The offeror agrees to hold the prices in its offer firm for 30 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. When required by the solicitation, product samples shall be submitted at or prior to the time specified for receipt of offers. Unless otherwise specified in this solicitation, these samples shall be submitted at no expense to the Government, and returned at the sender’s request and expense, unless they are destroyed during preaward testing.

(e) Multiple offers. Offerors are encouraged to submit multiple offers presenting alternative terms and conditions or commercial items for satisfying the requirements of this solicitation. Each offer submitted will be evaluated separately.

(f) Late submissions, modifications, revisions, and withdrawals of offers.

(1) Offerors are responsible for submitting offers, and any modifications, revisions, or withdrawals, so as to reach the Government office designated in the solicitation by the time specified in the solicitation. If no time is specified in the solicitation, the time for receipt is 4:30 p.m., local time, for the designated Government office on the date that offers or revisions are due.

(2)

(i) Any offer, modification, revision, or withdrawal of an offer received at the Government office designated in the solicitation after the exact time specified for receipt of offers is “late” and will not be considered unless it is received before award is made, the Contracting Officer determines that accepting the late offer would not unduly delay the acquisition; and—

(A) If it was transmitted through an electronic commerce method authorized by the solicitation, it was received at the initial point of entry to the Government infrastructure not later than 5:00 p.m. one working day prior to the date specified for receipt of offers; or

(B) There is acceptable evidence to establish that it was received at the Government installation designated for receipt of offers and was under the Government’s control prior to the time set for receipt of offers; or

(C) If this solicitation is a request for proposals, it was the only proposal received.

(ii) However, a late modification of an otherwise successful offer, that makes its terms more favorable to the Government, will be considered at any time it is received and may be accepted.

(3) Acceptable evidence to establish the time of receipt at the Government installation includes the time/date stamp of that installation on the offer wrapper, other documentary evidence of receipt maintained by the installation, or oral testimony or statements of Government personnel.

(4) If an emergency or unanticipated event interrupts normal Government processes so that offers cannot be received at the Government office designated for receipt of offers by the exact time specified in the solicitation, and urgent Government requirements preclude amendment of the solicitation or other notice of an extension of the closing date, the time specified for receipt of offers will be deemed to be extended to the same time of day specified in the solicitation on the first work day on which normal Government processes resume.

(5) Offers may be withdrawn by written notice received at any time before the exact time set for receipt of offers. Oral offers in response to oral solicitations may be withdrawn orally. If the solicitation authorizes facsimile offers, offers may be withdrawn via facsimile received at any time before the exact time set for receipt of offers, subject to the conditions specified in the solicitation concerning facsimile offers. An offer may be withdrawn in person by an offeror or its authorized representative if, before the exact time set for receipt of offers, the identity of the person requesting withdrawal is established and the person signs a receipt for the offer.

(g) Contract award (not applicable to Invitation for Bids). The Government intends to evaluate offers and award a contract without discussions with offerors. Therefore, the offeror’s initial offer should contain the offeror’s best terms from a price and technical standpoint. However, the Government reserves the right to conduct discussions if later determined by the Contracting Officer to be necessary. The Government may reject any or all offers if such action is in the public interest; accept other than the lowest offer; and waive informalities and minor irregularities in offers received.

(h) Multiple awards. The Government may accept any item or group of items of an offer, unless the offeror qualifies the offer by specific limitations. Unless otherwise provided in the Schedule, offers may not be submitted for quantities less than those specified. The Government reserves the right to make an award on any item for a quantity less than the quantity offered, at the unit prices offered, unless the offeror specifies otherwise in the offer.

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

(1)

(i) The GSA Index of Federal Specifications, Standards and Commercial Item Descriptions, FPMR Part 101-29, and copies of specifications, standards, and commercial item descriptions cited in this solicitation may be obtained for a fee by submitting a request to-- GSA Federal Supply Service Specifications Section Suite 8100 470 L’Enfant Plaza, SW Washington, DC 20407 Telephone (202) 619-8925) Facsimile (202 619-8978).

(ii) If the General Services Administration, Department of Agriculture, or Department of Veterans Affairs issued this solicitation, a single copy of specifications, standards, and commercial item descriptions cited in this solicitation may be obtained free of charge by submitting a request to the addressee in paragraph (i)(1)(i) of this provision. Additional copies will be issued for a fee.

(2) Most unclassified Defense specifications and standards may be downloaded from the following ASSIST websites--

(i) ASSIST (https://assist.dla.mil/online/start/ ).

(ii) Quick Search (http://quicksearch.dla.mil/).

(iii) ASSISTdocs.com (http://assistdocs.com).

(3) Documents not available from ASSIST may be ordered from the Department of Defense Single Stock Point (DoDSSP) by—

(i) Using the ASSIST Shopping Wizard ( https://assist.dla.mil/wizard/index.cfm );

(ii) Phoning the DoDSSP Customer Service Desk (215) 697-2179, Mon-Fri, 0730 to 1600 EST; or

(iii) Ordering from DoDSSP, Building 4 Section D, 700 Robbins Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19111-5094, Telephone (215) 697/2197, Facsimile (215) 697-1462.

(4) Nongovernment (voluntary) standards must be obtained from the organization responsible for their preparation, publication, or maintenance.

(j) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number. (Applies to offers exceeding $3,000, and offers of $3,000 or less if the solicitation requires the Contractor to be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database. The offeror shall enter, in the block with its name and address on the cover page of its offer, the annotation “DUNS” or “DUNS+4” followed by the DUNS or DUNS+4 number that identifies the offeror’s name and address. The DUNS+4 is the DUNS number plus a 4-character suffix that may be assigned at the discretion of the offeror to establish additional SAM records for identifying alternative Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) accounts (see FAR Subpart 32.11) for the same concern. If the offeror does not have a DUNS number, it should contact Dun and Bradstreet directly to obtain one. An offeror within the United States may contact Dun and Bradstreet by calling 1-866-705-5711 or via the Internet at http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform. An offeror located outside the United States must contact the local Dun and Bradstreet office for DUNS number. The offeror should indicate that it is an offeror for a Government contract when contacting the local Dun and Bradstreet office.

(k) System for Award Management. Unless exempted by an addendum to this solicitation, by submission of an offer, the offeror acknowledges the requirement that a prospective awardee shall be registered in the SAM database prior to award, during performance and through final payment of any contract resulting from this solicitation. If the Offeror does not become registered in the SAM database in the time prescribed by the Contracting Officer, the Contracting Officer will proceed to award to the next otherwise successful registered Offeror. Offerors may obtain information on registration and annual confirmation requirements via the SAM database accessed through https://www.acquisition.gov.

(l) Debriefing. If a post-award debriefing is given to requesting offerors, the Government shall disclose the following information, if applicable:

(1) The agency’s evaluation of the significant weak or deficient factors in the debriefed offeror’s offer.

(2) The overall evaluated cost or price and technical rating of the successful and debriefed offeror and past performance information on the debriefed offeror.

(3) The overall ranking of all offerors, when any ranking was developed by the agency during source selection.

(4) A summary of rationale for award;

(5) For acquisitions of commercial items, the make and model of the item to be delivered by the successful offeror.

(6) Reasonable responses to relevant questions posed by the debriefed offeror as to whether source-selection procedures set forth in the solicitation, applicable regulations, and other applicable authorities were followed by the agency.

(End of Provision)

FAR 52.212-2 Evaluation—Commercial Items (Oct 2014)

1. The Government intends to award one (1) firm fixed priced Contract from this solicitation for Media Monitoring and Analysis Service to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers: 1) Technical Acceptability, 2) Past Performance and 3) Price utilizing the Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) Best Value evaluation approach. This is a competitive LPTA best value technical evaluation in which technical acceptability is considered the most important factor. By submission of its offer, the Offeror accepts all solicitation requirements, including terms and conditions, representations and certifications, and technical requirements. All technically acceptable offerors, with satisfactory past performance, shall be treated equally except for their prices. Failure to meet a requirement shall result in an offer being determined technically unacceptable.

EVALUATION FACTORS

Evaluation Factor 1: Technical Acceptability (Pass/Fail) Offeror will be evaluated based upon their understanding of FEMA requirement as demonstrated in the contractor’s quote which presents an efficient and realistic approach to meet the proposed requirement. The technical approach demonstrates how each aspect of Statement of Objectives is to be accomplished. The technical approach demonstrates an in depth technical understanding and ability to meet the SOW requirements. The approach demonstrates how the project is to be organized and the capability of the contractor. The offeror identifies the technical barriers that it would conceivably encounter in pursuing the required work and makes specific proposals for their solution. The approach should therefore reflect a clear understanding of the nature of the work to be undertaken. Must demonstrate thorough understanding of:

1. Providing the proper skill mix, experience, and required number of qualified personnel to support External Affairs Media Monitoring and Analysis Services.

1. Achieving improved performance, reliability, security, and reduced cost of the delivered service.

1. Utilizing commercial standards and procedures to the maximum extent possible in achievement of the delivered service.

1. Upon the introduction of new technologies: enhancing capabilities and making process improvements; optimizing the External Affairs Media Monitoring and Analysis Services to demonstrate continuous improvement.

1. Operating and maintaining the External Affairs Media Monitoring and Analysis Services in compliance with all applicable DHS/FEMA information technology directives and policies, including DHS Section 508 compliance.

The Government will evaluate the Offeror’s Technical Approach to determine if the offeror has a thorough understanding of the requirement and if the approach will meet the requirements in the Statement of Work. Offerors must meet all of the following standards to receive an “acceptable” rating on this factor.

Demonstrated professional oral and written communication skills, including the ability to prepare technical documents that present information clearly, concisely, and in an easily understood format appropriate for the intended audience.

Evaluation Factor 2: Satisfactory Past Performance (Pass/Fail) The Government will evaluate each Offeror’s past performance conducting projects of a similar size, scope, and complexity, as proven by the successful management of current and previous contracts of a similar magnitude, scope, and complexity. In performing this evaluation, the Government will also consider the Offeror’s reputation for timely, accurate, and cooperative performance, as well as information obtained from other sources. The Government will place greater value on verifiable experience that is similar or the same as the requirements of the SOW. The Government reserves the right to consider any recent past performance information retrieved from Federal Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS).

Offerors must provide the following past performance information:

· List three projects, completed within the past three years, with either the Federal Government or commercial customers, which demonstrate work similar in type to the work described in this solicitation.

· Short description of the work performed

· List of at least three but not more than five clients familiar with performance (include name, telephone number, physical address, and email address)

· Contract and/or task order annual and total dollar amount

· Contract and/or task order period of performance

Evaluation Factor 3: Price Price, while being an important factor, is not in and of itself the determining factor in the selection of the successful Offeror for award of the contract contemplated by this solicitation. We will consider the level of effort and the mix of labor proposed to perform tasks being ordered, and for determining that the total price is reasonable.

However, cost/price may become a critical factor in source selection in the event that two or more offerors are determined to be essentially equal following the evaluation of all factors other than cost or price. In any event the Government reserves the right to make an award to the offeror whose proposal provides the best overall value to the Government.

The government will examine the proposed rate for reasonableness.

Evaluation of 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 determine that an offer is unacceptable if the option prices are significantly unbalanced. Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise the options.

(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) 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items (DEC 2014MAR 2015) The offeror shall complete only paragraphs (b) of this provision if the Offeror has completed the annual representations and certification electronically via the System for Award Management (SAM) Web site accessed through HYPERLINK "http://www.acquisition.gov" \t "_self" http://www.acquisition.gov . If the Offeror has not completed the annual representations and certifications electronically, the Offeror shall complete only paragraphs (c) through (p) of this provision.

(a) Definitions. As used in this provision-- “Economically disadvantaged women-owned small business (EDWOSB) concern” means a small business concern that is at least 51 percent directly and unconditionally owned by, and the management and daily business operations of which are controlled by, one or more women who are citizens of the United States and who are economically disadvantaged in accordance with 13 CFR part 127. It automatically qualifies as a women-owned small business eligible under the WOSB Program.

“Forced or indentured child labor” means all work or service—

(1) Exacted from any person under the age of 18 under the menace of any penalty for its nonperformance and for which the worker does not offer himself voluntarily; or

(2) Performed by any person under the age of 18 pursuant to a contract the enforcement of which can be accomplished by process or penalties.

“Highest-level owner” means the entity that owns or controls an immediate owner of the offeror, or that owns or controls one or more entities that control an immediate owner of the offeror. No entity owns or exercises control of the highest level owner.

“Immediate owner” means an entity, other than the offeror, that has direct control of the offeror. Indicators of control include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following: Ownership or interlocking management, identity of interests among family members, shared facilities and equipment, and the common use of employees.

“Inverted domestic corporation,” means a foreign incorporated entity that meets the definition of an inverted domestic corporation under 6 U.S.C. 395(b), applied in accordance with the rules and definitions of 6 U.S.C. 395(c).

“Manufactured end product” means any end product in Federal Supply Classes (FSC) 1000-9999, except—

(1) FSC 5510, Lumber and Related Basic Wood Materials;

(2) Federal Supply Group (FSG) 87, Agricultural Supplies;

(3) FSG 88, Live Animals;

(4) FSG 89, Food and Related Consumables;

(5) FSC 9410, Crude Grades of Plant Materials;

(6) FSC 9430, Miscellaneous Crude Animal Products, Inedible;

(7) FSC 9440, Miscellaneous Crude Agricultural and Forestry Products;

(8) FSC 9610, Ores;

(9) FSC 9620, Minerals, Natural and Synthetic; and

(10) FSC 9630, Additive Metal Materials.

“Place of manufacture” means the place where an end product is assembled out of components, or otherwise made or processed from raw materials into the finished product that is to be provided to the Government. If a product is disassembled and reassembled, the place of reassembly is not the place of manufacture.

“Restricted business operations” means business operations in Sudan that include power production activities, mineral extraction activities, oil-related activities, or the production of military equipment, as those terms are defined in the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act of 2007 (Pub. L. 110-174). Restricted business operations do not include business operations that the person (as that term is defined in Section 2 of the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act of 2007) conducting the business can demonstrate—

(1) Are conducted under contract directly and exclusively with the regional government of southern Sudan;

(2) Are conducted pursuant to specific authorization from the Office of…