RFP_14-05_Online_Legal_Research_Database_Services_for_NEA-OGC.OCR_5_Yrs.pdf

December 20, 2013

Reference: Online Legal Research Database for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)

Subject: Request for Proposal RFP 14-05, Online Legal Research Database Services for NEA

OGC & OCR

Dear Prospective Offeror:

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation issued in accordance with FAR Parts 12. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) invites contractors to submit proposals for the services described in the attached statement of work and request for proposal (RFP).

Enclosed you will find a statement of work/solicitation seeking proposals for access to an online legal research database for use by the Office of General Counsel (OGC) and the Office of Civil Rights (OCR).

Offerors are encouraged to pursue collaborations in order to provide the NEA with the expertise required for this evaluation.

QUESTIONS DEADLINE: Questions concerning this proposal must be submitted only via email to HARRISL@ARTS.GOV by 5:00 PM EST on Friday, January 3, 2014.

PROPOSALS DEADLINE: Proposals must be submitted by 5:00 PM EST on Wednesday, January 15, 2014.

This RFP in no way obligates the U.S. Government to award a contract, nor does it commit the U.S.

Government to pay any costs incurred in preparing and submitting your proposal.

Sincerely, Latonca M. Harris

Latonca M. Harris Contracting Officer National Endowment for the Arts

Enclosures:

Section B, Supplies/Service and Prices Section C, Description/Specifications/Statement of Work Section D, Preservation, Packaging and Marking - Not Applicable Section E, Inspection and Acceptance Section F, Deliveries or Performance Section G, Contract Administration Data Section H, Special Contract Requirements Section I, Contract Clauses Section J, List of Attachments Section K, Representations, Certifications and Other Statements of Offerors Section L, Instructions, Conditions and Notices to Offerors Section M, Evaluation Factors for Award

SECTION B

SUPPLIES/SERVICES AND PRICES

B.1 GENERAL

This RFP is for acquiring access to an online legal research database for use by the National Endowment of the Art’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) and the Office of Civil Rights (OCR). This database would be used to conduct legal research and assist employees of those offices in providing guidance to the Agency.

B.2 CONTRACT TERM

The contract term includes a base year and four option years as shown in the table below.

Year One Date of Award thru 12/31/2014 Year Two 01/01/2015 through 12/31/2015 Year Three 01/01/2016 through 12/31/2016 Year Four 01/01/2017 through 12/31/2017 Year Five 01/01/2018 through 12/31/2018

B.3 PRICING

(a) All unit prices are firm fixed unit prices that include all costs (including, but not limited to: labor, fringe benefits, overhead, G&A, and profit) necessary to provide an online legal research database for use by the National Endowment of the Art’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) and the Office of Civil Rights (OCR).

(b) The following pricing tables and CLINs are organized by contract year. The first digit of each CLIN is linked to the contract year as follows: “1” for year one, “2” for year two, etc.

Year One - Period of Performance: Date of Award through December 31, 2014

ITEM

No.

SUPPLIES OR SERVICES QTY UNIT UNIT PRICE AMOUNT

Online Legal Research Database

1 Lot $ $

FIRM FIXED PRICE

GRAND TOTAL*:

NTE $

Year Two - Period of Performance: January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015

Year Three - Period of Performance: January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016

Year Four - Period of Performance: January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2017

Year Five - Period of Performance: January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018

SECTION C

DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/STATEMENT OF WORK

C.1 INTRODUCTION

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. To date, the NEA has awarded over $4 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation of the benefit of individuals and committees. The NEA further extends its work through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector.

C.2 SCOPE OF WORK

The contractor will provide access for approximately 4-6 employees of the NEA's OGC and OCR online legal research database. The database will allow employees of both offices to research current and changing laws, statutes and regulations that affect the Agency, and secondary source material that will allow them to advise the Agency in an efficient and effective manner.

Examples of required databases included in the online legal research are:

US Federal Materials US State Materials Treatises Law Journals Legal Periodicals ALR, American Jurisprudence and Restatements of the Law Court Docket Information

Additionally, NEA requires access to news databases.

The services required must be of the highest standard of ethics and professionalism, pursuant to the DC Bar, and other entities such as the American Bar Association and the Office of Government Ethics. (See American Bar Association Rule 1.10 and 1.11; 5 C.F.R. Part 2635 and 5 C.F.R. Part 2641; and 5 C.F.R.

Part 6501.)

Acceptance Criteria: The NEA POC, as the subject matter expert, will determine if the product provided is acceptable and if any modifications are needed.

C.3 DETAILED SPECIFICATIONS

Below are the detailed tasks the contractor shall be required to perform:

Upon contract award, an in-person meeting with OGC and OCR will be held to train employees on the various uses and functions of the online legal research database. Throughout the duration of the contract, the contractor will provide any additional training as needed.

The contractor must assign a representative to assist in fielding questions and responding to any issues employees encounter with the online legal research database.

The contractor will notify the OGC/OCR of new research tools or guidance, such as secondary sources, that the contractor adds to the online legal research database.

SECTION E

INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE

See clause 52.246-4 Inspection of Services—Fixed-Price (AUG 1996). This clause will govern inspection and acceptance of all services performed by the Contractor. The Contractor is responsible for carrying out its obligations under this contract by controlling the quality of all services rendered and ensuring performance of all contract requirements.

SECTION F

DELIVERIES OR PERFORMANCE

F.1 TIMELINE FOR PERFORMING CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS

DELIVERY SCHEDULE:

In carrying out this project, the contractor shall complete the delivery schedule for primary task deliverables as presented below:

Major Deliverables Due Date

TASK 1. Training OGC/OCR

Immediately following contract award and subsequent training as needed.

TASK 2. Representatives Ongoing throughout the duration of the contract

TASK 3. Updates to Legal Database Ongoing throughout the duration of the contract

SECTION G

CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION DATA

G.1 PROJECT DIRECTOR

G.1.1 Upon award, a Project Director will be designated to coordinate the technical/program aspects of this contract and inspect items/services furnished hereunder; however, he/she shall NOT be authorized to change any terms and conditions of the resultant contract, including price.

G.1.2 The NEA Project Director is authorized to inspect and accept all deliverables, direct the contractor within the scope of the statement of work and monitor contract performance. The Project Director is also authorized to inspect, accept, and certify (but NOT reject or deny) invoices for payment in accordance with enclosed payment terms. If there is a dispute regarding any invoices, the Project Director must immediately contact the Contracting Officer and return the invoice with the rationale to reject or deny payment in accordance with the performance associated with the invoice for further processing.

G.1.3 The Project Director for this contract is:

To be determined at time of award National Endowment for the Arts

1100 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Suite Washington, DC 20506

(202) 682-XXXX

G.1.4 The Contracting Officer for this contract is:

Latonca Harris

National Endowment for the Arts 1100 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Suite 618

Washington, DC 20506

(202) 682-5476

Written communications shall reference the contract number and shall be e-mailed to the Contracting Officer/Project Director as necessary. Project-related questions may be directed to the Project Directory while contract/cost related questions must be directed to the Contracting Officer. Questions regarding any changes to the contract whatsoever must be directed to the Contracting Officer.

G.2 INVOICE REQUIREMENTS

G.2.1 Payment for actual work and services rendered under this contract will be made by the National Endowment for the Arts via Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and in accordance with the contract clause 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions--Commercial Items (FEB 2007), and 52.232-34 Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer--Other Than Central Contractor Registration (May 1999), upon submission of electronic commercial invoices to the NEA.

G.2.2. The office that will make the payments due under this contract (i.e., the designated payment office) is shown below. Invoices shall be emailed to the email address below:

NEAINVOICES@ARTS.GOV

mailto:NEAINVOICES@ARTS.GOV

National Endowment for the Arts Finance Office, Suite 624

1100 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, DC 20506

To constitute a proper invoice, the following information and/or attached documentation shall be included with the invoice.

(1) Name and address of the Contractor

(2) Invoice date.

(3) Contract number.

(4) Period covered by the invoice.

(5) Number and description, quantity, unit price and extended total for the period covered applicable to Section B, Supplies/Services and Prices.

(6) Cumulative amounts billed by to date.

(7) Name and address of Contractor official to whom payment is to be sent (must be the same as that in the contract or in a proper notice of assignment).

(8) Taxpayer Identification Number.

(9) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number.

PLEASE NOTE:

The successful contractor is required to be registered in the System For Award Management (SAM) at:

https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/. (This was previously known as CCR - the Central Contractor Registration.)

Assistance with SAM account may be found here: https://www.fsd.gov/app/answers/list.

SECTION H

SPECIAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS

H.1 SPECIAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS

Private Use of Contract Information and Data

In accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.227-14(b) Rights in Data-General, the Contractor shall guarantee strict confidentiality of the information and data that is provided by the Government during the performance of the contract. The Government has determined that some of the information and data that the Contractor will be provided during the performance of the contract may be confidential or sensitive in nature and cannot be disclosed in any manner.

Prohibition against Soliciting and Performing Personal Services

A. The performance of personal services under this contract is strictly prohibited.

B. Personal service contracting is described in Section 37.104 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations

(FAR). There are a number of factors, when taken individually or collectively, which may constitute personal services. Each contract arrangement must be judged in light of its own facts and circumstances, but the question relative to personal services is: Will the Government exercise relatively continuous supervision and control over the contractor personnel performing this contract?

https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ https://www.fsd.gov/app/answers/list

C. The government and the Contractor understand and agree that the support services to be delivered under this contract are non-personal services in nature that is no employer-employee relationships exist or will exist under -the contract between the government and the contractor or between the Government and the contractor’s employees.

D. Contractor personnel under this contract shall not:

1. Be placed in a position where they are appointed or employed by a Federal employee, or are under the supervision, direction, or evaluation of a Federal employee.

2. Be placed in a Federal staff or policy-making position.

3. Be placed in a position of supervision, direction, or evaluation over NEA personnel, or personnel of other contractors, or become a part of a government organization.

E. Employee Relationship

1. The services to be performed under this contract do not require the contractor or its employees to exercise personal judgment and discretion on behalf of the government.

2. Rules, regulations, direction, and requirements which are issued by NEA management under their responsibility for good order, administration, and security are applicable to all personnel who enter a Government installation. This is not to be construed or interpreted to establish any degree of Government control which is inconsistent with a non-personal services contract.

3. The Contractor shall immediately advise the Contracting Officer if the contractor or its employees are directed by any Government employee to perform work that the Contractor believes constitutes personal services.

SECTION I

CONTRACT CLAUSES

9.505-4 Obtaining Access to Proprietary Information

(a) When a contractor requires proprietary information from others to perform a Government contract and can use the leverage of the contract to obtain it, the contractor may gain an unfair competitive advantage unless restrictions are imposed. These restrictions protect the information and encourage companies to provide it when necessary for contract performance. They are not intended to protect information-

(1) Furnished voluntarily without limitations on its use; or

(2) Available to the Government or contractor from other sources without restriction.

(b) A contractor that gains access to proprietary information of other companies in performing advisory and assistance services for the Government must agree with the other companies to protect their information from unauthorized use or disclosure for as long as it remains proprietary and refrain from using the information for any purpose other than that for which it was furnished. The contracting officer shall obtain copies of these agreements and ensure that they are properly executed.

(c) Contractors also obtain proprietary and source selection information by acquiring the services of marketing consultants which, if used in connection with an acquisition, may give the contractor an unfair competitive advantage. Contractors should make inquiries of marketing consultants to ensure that the marketing consultant has provided no unfair competitive advantage

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)

52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions--Commercial Items. (SEP 2013) -Incorporated By

Reference

52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive

Orders- Commercial Items. (NOV 2013)

(a) The Contractor shall comply with the following Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clauses, which are incorporated in this contract by reference, to implement provisions of law or Executive orders applicable to acquisitions of commercial items:

(2) 52.233-3, Protest After Award (AUG 1996) (31 U.S.C. 3553).

(3) 52.233-4, Applicable Law for Breach of Contract Claim (OCT 2004) (Pub. L. 108-77, 108-78)

(b) The Contractor shall comply with the FAR clauses in this paragraph (b) that the Contracting Officer has indicated as being incorporated in this contract by reference to implement provisions of law or Executive orders applicable to acquisitions of commercial items:

[Contracting Officer check as appropriate.] X (26) 52.222-3, Convict Labor (June 2003) (E.O. 11755).

X (48) 52.232-33, Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer— —System For Award Management

(JUL 2013) (31 U.S.C. 3332)..

(End of Clause)

52.217-8 -- Option to Extend Services (NOV 1999)

The Government may require continued performance of any services within the limits and at the rates specified in the contract. These rates may be adjusted only as a result of revisions to prevailing labor rates provided by the Secretary of Labor. The option provision may be exercised more than once, but the total extension of performance hereunder shall not exceed 6 months. The Contracting Officer may exercise the option by written notice to the Contractor within 30 days.

52.217-9 Option to Extend the Term of the Contract (MAR 2000)

(a) The Government may extend the term of this contract (exercise the options for CY 15, CY 16, CY 17, and CY 18) by written notice to the Contractor at any time prior to the expiration of the contract; provided that the Government gives the Contractor a preliminary written notice of its intent to extend at least 30 days before the contract expires. The preliminary notice does not commit the Government to an extension.

(b) If the Government exercises this option, the extended contract shall be considered to include this option clause.

(c) The total duration of this contract, including the exercise of any options under this clause, shall not exceed 5 years.

(End of Clause)

52.227-14 Rights in Data-General. (DEC 2007) - Incorporated By Reference

52.246-4Inspection of Services -- Fixed-Price (AUG 1996) (Incorporated By Reference)

52.252-2 Clauses Incorporated By Reference, (FEB 1998)

This contract incorporates one or more clauses 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. Also, the full text may be accessed electronically at this Internet address: http://www.acquisition.gov/far/.

(End of clause)

SECTION J

LIST OF ATTACHMENTS

Wage Determinations Online - www.wdol.gov. Department of Labor Wage Determination Number:

2005-2103 REV (13) Date of Revision: 06/19/2013 Area: Washington, DC Click on the following hyperlink. http://www.wdol.gov/wdol/scafiles/std/05-2103.txt?v=13

SECTION K

REPRESENTATIONS, CERTIFICATIONS AND OTHER STATEMENTS OF OFFERORS

Each offeror must also have their representations and certifications filed online in SAM (System For Award Management (SAM) found at https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/). If an offeror is experiencing technical difficulties during this process and is not registered at the time of proposal https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ submission, a manually filled copy of the clause 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications - Commercial Items (AUG 2013) must be turned in along with the proposal. This shall not count towards any stated page limits for the proposal.

Registering an active account in SAM is REQUIRED for contract award. For assistance with creating a SAM account, please visit the link in the paragraph above.

SECTION L

INSTRUCTIONS, CONDITIONS AND NOTICES TO OFFERORS

52.212-1 INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS--COMMERCIAL ITEMS (JUNE 2008)

(a) North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 519120 and the size standard is

$14.0M.

(b) Submission of Offers. The written proposal should not exceed the total limit of 13 pages, single spaced, in 12-point font and submissions shall include at a minimum:

• Overview of the Contractor’s Understanding of Project and Proposed Approach (Not to exceed

5 pages)

Outline your expertise in providing an up-to-date online legal research databases, including information regarding the usability of your database, its searchability, how frequently the database is updated with the latest information on case law, laws and regulations, analysis, secondary sources, etc. and the extent (depth and breadth) to which the database contains topical information. For each of the tasks identified by the Arts Endowment, describe how you would accomplish each task.

Contractor may propose an alternative approach to accomplishing this project. Identify potential challenges in the conduct of the project and your methods to identify and solve such problems.

Offerors may be asked to conduct demonstrations of their proposed online legal research databases.

• Description of Personnel Qualifications

In this section, identify the representative(s) assigned to assist the OGC/OCR should matters arise involving the operation, use, function, etc. of the online legal research database. Describe the pertinent qualifications of key personnel and representatives. Identify the key personnel/representatives who will direct the overall project throughout the duration of the contract.

Describe the time allocations that all personnel described will devote to fulfillment of the contract.

The NEA reserves the right to approve any changes of key personnel/representatives during negotiations or after award of a contract as a result of this RFP.

• Organizational Experience/Technical Expertise (Not to exceed 2 pages)

In this section, provide satisfactory evidence of your organizational capacity to effectively conduct the tasks described and produce a high-quality online legal research database that meets the intent of this RFP. Provide information on organizational qualifications to accomplish the described tasks, including indications of the ability to perform the tasks described in this RFP; and evidence that your organization has gained pertinent experience through working on similar projects. Describe your technical proficiency with the ability to provide a easily searchable online legal database and detail your technical credentials in providing such a product.

• Complete Pricing Table in Section B. Prices shall include all direct and indirect costs, and any other factor which contributes to the total firm fixed price. In addition, provide a breakdown of project costs by personnel (including daily rate and projected time on each task), supplies, travel, etc., associated with the tasks. Services to be purchased from other agencies or subcontractors must be specified.

• Past performance

• Description of similar efforts recently performed. (Not to exceed 1 page)

• At least two (2) general descriptions, to the extent that attorney-client privilege permits, references, including name and telephone number of point of contact for similar efforts recently and successfully performed by the Contractor.

The offeror’s initial proposal should contain the offeror’s best terms from a cost or price and technical standpoint. The Government reserves the right to conduct clarifications, if later determined to be necessary. Offerors may be given an opportunity to clarify certain aspects of their proposals.

A completed copy of the Representations and Certifications (see Section K).

(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) NA

(e) NA

(f) NA

(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) NA

(i) NA

(j) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number. The offeror shall enter, in the block on the cover page of its offer.

(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. 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 will do so in accordance with this provision.

(End of provision) https://www.acquisition.gov/

SECTION M

EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD

FAR 52.212-2 Evaluation--Commercial Items (JAN 1999)

(a) The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, taking into account price and other factors; the Government will award a contract on a 'best-value' basis.

For each evaluation factor, a point scoring system will be used to rank all proposals, using a rating scale of 100%. The evaluation will include five (5) major areas:

Overview of the Contractor’s Understanding of Project and Proposed Approach (30%) Description of Personnel Qualifications (20%) Organizational Experience/Technical Expertise (20%) Past Performance (15%) Price (15%).

In order to select the winning offeror, NEA will rank offerors from best to worst by making paired comparisons, trading off the marginal differences in capability and price. If one offeror has both the better capability and the lower price, then that offeror will be the better value. If one offeror has the better capability and the higher price, then the technical evaluation panel will decide whether the marginal difference in capability is worth the marginal difference in price. If the technical evaluation panel considers the better capability to be worth the higher price, then the more capable, higher-priced offeror will be the better value. If not, then the less capable, lower-priced offeror will be the better value. If more than two proposals are received, the technical evaluation panel will continue to make paired comparisons until s/he decided which offeror represents the best value.

(b) N/A

(c) A written notice of award, emailed or otherwise furnished to the successful offeror shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party.

1. Overview of the Contractor’s Understanding of Project and Proposed Approach (30%) Proposal presents a clear description of the contractor’s expertise in providing an online legal research database to users; describes the offeror’s approach to tasks conducted that would be appropriate to the scope of this project; and identifies potential challenges in the conduct of the project and methods to identify and solve such problems. The approach is consistent with the goals of the project and is practical in terms of producing needed information, analysis, and recommendations.

2. Description of Personnel Qualifications (20%) The proposal provides evidence of the specific qualifications and skills of key personnel/representatives assigned to this project and experience with providing guidance and assistance to users of the online legal research database.

3. Organizational Experience/Technical Expertise (20%) The degree to which the overall experience and past performance of the offeror in executing similar projects is described and the technical resources and ability of the offeror in providing the product requested is clearly detailed. Evidence of related assigned assignments should be detailed.

4. Past Performance (15%)\ A description of similar efforts and references shall be used to evaluate the contractor's ability to perform all contract requirements as stated herein.

4. Price (15%)

The proposal budget is appropriate to the administration of the project. The Government will evaluate the contractors proposed prices to make a determination that the costs are fair and reasonable.