Preservation of Audiovisual Material - Instructions to Offerors (08-21-20).pdf

INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS

(08-21-2020)

To: Qualified Offerors

From: LaDonna Stewart, Contracting Officer

Subject: Request for Quote# 75N97020R00017 entitled “Preservation of Audiovisual Material”

The National Library of Medicine, Office of Acquisitions is issuing this solicitation as a competitive, Small Business set-aside Request for Quote (RFQ) for the purpose of entering into one or more Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPA) for digitizing and preservation of audiovisual material for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Library of Medicine – History of Medicine Division. This solicitation will be conducted under FAR Part 12 Acquisition of Commercial Items in combination with FAR Part 13 Simplified Acquisition Procedures

Offerors are required to submit a written technical quote, price list, and response to task order assignments in accordance with the instructions below. The Government will evaluate responses in accordance with the stated criteria to determine which offer represents the “Best Value” in performing the requirements delineated by the Statement of Work (SOW).

A. QUESTIONS

If you have questions regarding this requirement, please submit your inquiries via email to LaDonna_Stewart@nih.gov no later than Thursday, August 27, 2020 at 12:00pm, local prevailing time. Please reference the solicitation number in your email correspondence. Be advised that the Government reserves the right to transmit those questions and answers of a common interest to all prospective Offerors.

B. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS AND QUOTE DUE DATE

Quotes must be submitted electronically via the NIH Electronic Contract Proposal System (e- CPS) on or before the RFQ closing date of Thursday, September 3, 2020 at 12:00 pm, local prevailing time.

The address for the e-CPS is https://ecps.nih.gov/. The e-CPS requires you to create an account prior to submitting your response. Please allow enough time to create the appropriate registrations. Proposals will not be accepted that are not submitted timely through the e-CPS system.

C. NUMBER OF AWARDS

It is anticipated that up to two (2) BPA awards will be made from this solicitation. The NLM reserves the right to make a single BPA award or no award if it is in their best interest to do so based on the evaluation of offers.

https://ecps.nih.gov/

Please note that this is a small business set-aside requirement. Your quote response must indicate your business size relative to the NAICS identified in the solicitation notice.

Responses from firms not identified as a small business will not be considered.

D. DATE OF AWARD

It is anticipated that BPA awards will be made on or about September 15, 2020.

E. SELECTION OF AN OFFER/OFFEROR

Award of a Blanket Purchase Agreement will be made to the offeror(s) that the Government determines to represent the best value to meet the Government’s needs. The evaluation criteria to be used by the Government are described in the EVALUATION FACTORS FOR BPA AWARD below.

F. ORDERING TERMS AND CONDITIONS

o Offeror must specify the unit and discount, if any, for each item or service offered o Prices for labor shall be fixed unit prices (per labor hour), per labor category.

o Proposed hourly rates shall be "fully loaded" inclusive of all related costs, including direct labor, fringe benefits, training, overhead, profit, vacation and holiday pay, future pay/benefit increases, overtime and shift differential. The offeror shall invoice only for hours that personnel are on duty and performing productive work.

o Orders issued on a BPA resulting from this solicitation may be Firm Fixed Price, Time and Material, or Labor Hour or any combination of the three.

o Orders issued on a BPA resulting from this solicitation will be inclusive of the Terms and Conditions of the BPA.

o The NLM reserves the right to issue a BPA task order without competition if it is determined to be in the Government’s best interest to do so.

o The NLM reserves the right to issue a BPA task order for follow-on work to a previous order without competition if it is determined to be in the best interests of the Government to do so.

G. COMMITMENT OF PUBLIC FUNDS

The Contracting Officer is the only individual who can legally commit the Government to the expenditure of public funds in connection with the proposed acquisition. Any other commitment, either explicit or implied, is invalid.

H. PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS

The following instructions will establish the acceptable minimum requirements for the format and contents of the offeror’s response. Special attention should be directed to the requirements for the Technical, Business, and Task Order responses to be submitted in accordance with these instructions.

I. PREPARATION COSTS

This RFQ does not commit the Government to pay for the preparation and submission of any proposal or offer.

J. AUTHORIZED OFFICIAL

The offerors response must be signed by an official authorized to bind your organization and must stipulate that it is predicated upon all the terms and conditions of this RFQ.

K. PRIVACY ACT – TREATMENT OF QUOTE INFORMATION

The Privacy Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-579) requires that a Federal agency advise each individual whom it asks to supply information, the authority which authorizes the solicitation, whether disclosure is voluntary or mandatory, the principal purpose for which the information is intended to be used, the uses outside the agency which may be made of the information, and the effects on the individual, if any, of not providing all or any part of the requested information.

The NIH is requesting the information called for in this RFQ pursuant to the authority provided by Sec. 301(a)(7) of the Public Health Service Act, as amended, and P.L. 92- 218, as amended.

Providing the information requested is entirely voluntary. The collection of this information is for the purpose of conducting an accurate, fair, and adequate review prior to a discussion as to whether to award a BPA.

Failure to provide any or all of the requested information may result in a less than adequate review.

In addition, the Privacy Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-579, Section 7) requires that the following information be provided when individuals are requested to disclose their social security number.

Provision of the social security number is voluntary. Social security numbers are requested for the purpose of accurate and efficient identification, referral, review and management of NIH acquisition programs. Authority for requesting this information is provided by Section 301 and Title IV of the PHS Act, as amended.

The information provided by you may be routinely disclosed for the following purposes:

• To the cognizant audit agency and the General Accounting Office for auditing.

• To the Department of Justice as required for litigation.

• To respond to congressional inquiries.

• To qualified experts, not within the definition of Department employees, for opinions as a part of the review process.

L. SOLICITATION PROVISIONS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE, FAR

52.252-1 (February 1998)

This Solicitation incorporates one or more solicitation provisions 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. The offeror is cautioned that the listed provisions may include blocks that must be completed by the offeror and submitted with its offer. In lieu of submitting the full text provisions, the offeror may identify the provision by paragraph identifier and provide the appropriate information with its offer.

Also, the full text of a solicitation provision may be accessed electronically at this address:

http://www.acquisition.gov/far/index.html

FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION (48 CFR, CHAPTER 1):

a) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number, FAR Clause 52.204-6 (April 2008)

b) Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items, FAR Clause 52.212-1 (Jun 2020)

c) Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items, FAR Clause 52.212-3 (Jun 2020)

d) Order of Precedence-Uniform Contract Format, FAR Clause 52.215-8, (October 1997)

M. INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARING THE TECHNICAL PORTION OF THE

QUOTE

1. PREPARING THE TECHNICAL PORTION OF THE QUOTE

The offeror shall include in its quote a discussion of the offeror's proposed technical approach to respond to the requirements in the Statement of Work. The offeror must be able to respond to all requirements specified in the Statement of Work. The discussion should not to exceed fifteen (15) typewritten pages. The page limit excludes the cover sheet, title page, table of contents, summaries of past performance, employee resumes, or letters of commitment if any.

The offeror shall utilize an 8.5 by 11-inch page size with 1-inch margins. Paragraphs shall be single spaced. The minimum acceptable font size/style is 10-point Times New Roman for Text.

In its proposed technical approach, the offeror shall summarize its corporate experience (including results) with contracts comparable in size and scope to this solicitation that the offeror has successfully performed in the past three (3) years. The information presented shall be in sufficient detail to describe the previous experience and effectiveness of the offeror in similar or closely related work, and to demonstrate the offeror’s current ability to accomplish the tasks delineated by the statement of work.

If possible, the offeror should submit three (3) past performance references for http://www.acquisition.gov/far/index.html work completed within the past three (3) years. If a minimum of three references are not available, the offeror should so state.

N. INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARING THE BUSINESS PORTION OF

THE QUOTE

1. PREPARING THE BUSINESS PORTION OF THE QUOTE

The business portion of the offeror’s submission, including any pricing spreadsheets if necessary is not expected to exceed five (5) pages.

2. PRICE INFORMATION

The Offeror must provide prices for services for the Base period plus subsequent option years.

Proposed hourly rates shall be "fully loaded" inclusive of all related costs, including direct labor, fringe benefits, training, overhead, profit, vacation and holiday pay, future pay/benefit increases, overtime and shift differential. The Offeror shall invoice only for hours that personnel are on duty and performing productive work.

Prices offered shall be fixed unit prices (per labor hour) per labor category.

If the vendor has an existing GSA FSS/MAS contract, the proposed prices must be consistent with the offeror’s schedule pricing or better.

All discounts must be identified in the Offeror’s Pricing sheet

3. FORMATTING INSTRUCTIONS

The offeror shall submit sufficiently detailed information to permit the Contracting Officer and authorized representatives to evaluate the offer.

Unless otherwise stated in this solicitation, the information may be submitted in the offeror’s own format.

Page size shall be 8.5 by 11 inches with 1-inch margins. Paragraphs shall single spaced.

The minimum acceptable font size/style is 10-point Times New Roman font for Text, 9-point font in the Arial family for Tables, and 8-point font in the Arial family for Graphics. Tables and graphics may be landscape; all other text must be portrait.

O. EVALUATION FACTORS FOR BPA AWARD

1. GENERAL

BPA agreements will be established with one or more vendor(s) determined by the Government to represent the best value to meet the Government’s needs.

Technical quotes will receive paramount consideration in the selection of the Offeror for BPA award. All evaluation factors, other than cost or price, when combined are more important than cost or price.

2. EVALUATION OF THE TECHNICAL PORTION

The technical portion of quotes will be evaluated in accordance with the factors, weights, and order of relative importance described below. All subfactors under each technical criterion are of equal importance.

3. EVALUATION CRITERIA

The offeror shall provide information on the workflows, processes, protocols, staffing, facilities, equipment and any other resources necessary to demonstrate the potential for successful completion of the requirements delineated by the Statement of Work.

Technical proposals shall be evaluated on the following:

1. Technical Capability (40 Points)

a) Ability to assess film and tape conditions including embrittlement, shrinkage, fading, distortion, plasticizer exudation, and other states of decay; complete condition reports; treat and repair film and tape appropriately prior to digitization.

The vendor shall describe its procedures for standard and recommended practice for handling, cleaning and treatment

b) Description of digitization workflows for preserving film and tape including metadata creation using state-of-the-art equipment and processes. If the vendor utilizes parallel transfer workflows, details shall be provided regarding the approach - addressing the selection and preparation of items, the number of items to be transferred simultaneously, quality assurance and control used to mitigate risk, how monitoring is performed, staffing, and other pertinent information on the process.

c) Types of source formats which can be accommodated. At a minimum, the list shall include 16 mm film, ¾” U-matic tape, and VHS tape. The vendor shall also demonstrate familiarity with the FFV1 codec as a film and video preservation format.

d) Offeror’s quality control program used for managing workflows and multiple task assignments including monitoring and managing work performed by subcontractors as necessary to ensure successful completion of the requirements of the Statement of Work. A statement describing the responsibilities and lines of communication between the prime contractor and subcontractor and/or consultants must be provided.

2. Facilities and Equipment (30 points)

a) Equipment proposed to be used as part of this project. Identified equipment should include the type of equipment, manufacturer brand name and model number.

b) Methodologies and frequency with which routine integrity testing and maintenance of equipment and systems is performed. Narrative shall include the calibration and alignment protocols.

c) Procedures for environmental control management designed to minimize airborne particulates. A report (chart and/or spreadsheet) tracking particulate levels over the previous 90 days is preferred but not required.

d) Report (chart and/or spreadsheet) tracking temperature and humidity over the previous 90 days in the storage area.

e) Narrative description and photos of the shelving or secured storage identified for use on this project

3. Staffing and other Resources (20 Points)

The offeror’s staff will be evaluated based on descriptions of key roles and submitted resumes and “Letters of Commitment” illustrating an appropriate skill mix; and experience of key staff and other proposed technical, management, and project support staff. Resumes of no more than 3 pages shall be provided for all personnel

• Project Manager(s) shall have at least five (5) years of relevant experience within the past five (5) years.

• Technicians who handle, clean, treat, repair, and digitize NLM source material shall have at least three (3) years of relevant experience within the past five (5) years.

4. Corporate Experience (20 points) This criterion refers to the offeror’s experiences on similar tasks for the NIH or in other government contract efforts of similar magnitude.

a) Describe experiences with digitizing historical motion picture film and videotapes in various formats and condition, e.g. 16mm, 35mm, ¾” U-matic, Betacam, VHS.

b) Describe experience working with various AV encoding and file formats, e.g.

FFV1, MOV, ProRes, DPX, Motion JPEG2000, MPEG4.

c) Describe experience with producing metadata files according to AV-related schema, e.g. METS, DublinCore, PBCore, EBUCore, reVTMD, PREMIS.

5. Past Performance (20 Points)

Offerors shall submit brief descriptions and references for at least three similar projects performed in the past three years. The narrative shall include information describing the scope of work, percentage of effort performed as a prime or subcontractor, the contract type (Time and Material, Labor Hour, Firm Fixed Price, etc), and the total contract value. The Government shall use various means to assess the offeror’s performance on current and previous contracts identified by the vendor and/or made aware of to the contracting office trough personal knowledge, contact with other Government agencies, assessments contained in the Contractor Past Performance Reporting System, and information contained in other databases such as SAM.Gov, FAPIIS, and FPDS-NG.

4. EVALUATION OF THE BUSINESS PORTION

The offerors prices will be evaluated for reasonability. A price is reasonable if, in its nature and amount, it does not exceed that which would be incurred by a prudent person in the conduct of competitive business.

5. EVALUATION OF OPTIONS

It is anticipated that any BPA and BPA Task Orders awarded from this solicitation will contain option provision(s) and period(s).

In accordance with FAR Clause 52.217-5, Evaluation of Options (July 1990), the Government will review option prices for accuracy and consistency. Evaluation of options will not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s).

P. RESPONSE TO TASK ORDER ASSIGNMENTS

Separate to the Technical and Business response referenced above, each offeror will be required to provide a technical approach and price quote for Task Order assignments 0001 and 0002. Each assignment shall be quoted separately and will be evaluated and awarded subsequent to the BPA determination. Prices quoted in the task assignments should be consistent with the price list provided in the offerors Business response and include any proposed discounts.

The Government will make a best value determination in the award of all BPA task orders.

The offeror’s technical approach to include the offerors capacity to perform the work and proposed schedule of performance, in addition to price are of equal importance in the evaluation of Task Order assignments 0001 and 0002. Each task order will be evaluated and awarded separately.

There is no page limitation (min or max) to the offeror’s response to the task order assignments but each response should contain enough information for the Government to make a determination as to the offeror’s approach to performing the work and capacity for successful completion within the proposed timeframe.

Q. ATTACHMENTS TO THIS RFQ

1. Statement of Work (SOW)

2. Task 0001- VHS Preservation Task

3. Task 0002 - Film Preservation Task