LITIGATION_SEARCHES_v3_7-2015.doc

TITLE: LITIGATION SEARCHES FOR BALDRIGE SITE VISIT ORGANIZATIONS

SOLICITATION NO.: SB1341-15-RQ-0574

THIS IS A COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL SERVICES PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FORMAT IN FAR SUBPART 12.6 – STREAMLINED PROCEDURES FOR EVALUATION AND SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS-AS SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE. FAR PART 13 SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION PROCEDURES ARE UTILIZED IN THIS PROCUREMENT. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION; QUOTATIONS ARE BEING REQUESTED AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION DOCUMENT WILL NOT BE ISSUED. This solicitation is a Request for Quotation (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-83.***

*** The associated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 541199 with a small business size standard of $11.0M. This acquisition is 100% set-aside for small business***

***The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has a requirement for litigation searches for Baldrige Site Visit Organizations*** ***All interested small businesses may provide a firm fixed-price quotation for the following:

BASE PERIOD: 08/08/2015 through 08/07/2016

CLIN 0001: Litigation search services at both the US District Court and local jurisdiction levels for the purpose of determining whether the Baldrige Program’s site visit applicant organizations and/or their Highest Ranking Officials (HROs) have any open or pending lawsuits; (3) searches total: (1) initial and (2) updates during the Baldrige Award Process mos. of Aug.-Nov.

QTY: NTE 108

CLIN 0002: Searches for any additional HROs.

QTY: NTE 15 EA

CLIN 0003: Copies of Dockets.

QTY: NTE 200 EA

OPTION YEAR 1: 08/08/2016 through 08/07/2017

CLIN 0004: Litigation search services at both the US District Court and local jurisdiction levels for the purpose of determining whether the Baldrige Program’s site visit applicant organizations and/or their Highest Ranking Officials (HROs) have any open or pending lawsuits; (3) searches total: (1) initial and (2) updates during the Baldrige Award Process mos. of Aug.-Nov.

QTY: NTE 108 EA

CLIN 0005: Searches for any additional HROs.

QTY: NTE 15 EA

CLIN 0006: Copies of Dockets.

QTY: NTE 200 EA

OPTION YEAR 2: 08/08/2017 through 08/07/2018 CLIN 0007: Litigation search services at both the US District Court and local jurisdiction levels for the purpose of determining whether the Baldrige Program’s site visit applicant organizations and/or their Highest Ranking Officials (HROs) have any open or pending lawsuits; (3) searches total: (1) initial and (2) updates during the Baldrige Award Process mos. of Aug.-Nov.

QTY: NTE 108 EA

CLIN 0008: Searches for any additional HROs.

QTY: NTE 15 EA

CLIN 0009: Copies of Dockets.

QTY: NTE 200 EA

OPTION YEAR 3: 08/08/2018 through 08/07/2019

CLIN 0010: Litigation search services at both the US District Court and local jurisdiction levels for the purpose of determining whether the Baldrige Program’s site visit applicant organizations and/or their Highest Ranking Officials (HROs) have any open or pending lawsuits; (3) searches total: (1) initial and (2) updates during the Baldrige Award Process mos. of Aug.-Nov.

QTY: NTE 108 EA

CLIN 0011: Searches for any additional HROs.

QTY: NTE 15 EA

CLIN 0012: Copies of Dockets.

QTY: NTE 200 EA

OPTION YEAR 4: 08/08/2019 through 08/07/2020

CLIN 0013: Litigation search services at both the US District Court and local jurisdiction levels for the purpose of determining whether the Baldrige Program’s site visit applicant organizations and/or their Highest Ranking Officials (HROs) have any open or pending lawsuits; (3) searches total: (1) initial and (2) updates during the Baldrige Award Process mos. of Aug.-Nov.

QTY: NTE 108 EA

CLIN 0014: Searches for any additional HROs.

QTY: NTE 15 EA

CLIN 0015: Copies of Dockets.

QTY: NTE 200 EA

The following is the Statement of Work (SoW):

Statement of Work

Litigation Searches for Baldrige Site Visit Organizations

1. Background

The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program (BPEP) educates U.S. organizations in performance excellence and administers the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The Baldrige Award is the only Presidential award for performance excellence and innovation. One specific step in the administration of the award process is that BPEP conducts background checks for organizations that receive site visits. These background checks investigate the organization and highest ranking official (HRO) to determine whether any information arises that may be an embarrassment for either the organization or for BPEP, and by extension, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Department of Commerce (DoC).

A key component of the background check is a due diligence type of litigation search (excluding financial information, unless specifically requested by BPEP) to determine whether the organization or HRO have any lawsuits at either the U.S. District Court or local jurisdiction level. If there are cases open or pending, BPEP would like to know the nature of the cases.

Due diligence in this meaning is any case that would potentially cause embarrassment for BPEP however it is limited to litigation searches and does not include for example, Dun & Bradstreet or financials, press checks, IRS tax issues, or EEOC, EPA, FTC- type of searches.

If there are any questions, the Contractor is expected to contact BPEP for clarification before performing any type of searches not related to court cases.

Occasionally an organization has more than one HRO due to joint ownership; in this case the Contractor shall conduct federal and local jurisdiction lawsuit searches for each HRO.

It is important to BPEP that the searches balance the needs to be prompt and accurate yet keep costs reasonable.

2. Scope of Work

The Contractor shall conduct litigation searches at both the U.S. District Court and local jurisdiction levels in order to determine whether BPEP’s site visited applicant organizations and/or their HROs (information that will be provided to the Contractor at the appropriate time) have any lawsuits during the past five (5) years, especially those that are open or pending.

All information that identifies applicant organizations and HROs must be transmitted between BPEP and the Contractor in a secure manner (for example: e-mail without applicant information in the subject line; or preferably, secure file transfer in a method that both Baldrige staff and the Contractor can use).

The same searches will be requested three times unless the HRO or organization name changes. After the first search the subsequent searches can be performed and provide any new information obtained. The approximate times requested are late August- early September, late September--mid-October, and mid-November. These searches correspond to just after the last-August Judges’ meeting, just before site visits in late September, and just before the early-November Judges’ meeting. These Award Process dates can be found on the Baldrige Process Calendar at http://www.nist.gov/baldrige/about/calendar.cfm .

3. Specific Tasks

Non Disclosure:

The Contractor shall sign a non-disclosure statement and shall not disclose the names of applicant organizations or their HROs to anyone other than BPEP staff and shall not discuss information obtained through litigation searches with anyone except BPEP staff in order to protect applicant confidentiality.

Litigation Searches:

The Contractor shall complete the litigation searches for cases in the past five (5) years from the date BPEP requests the searches. The Contractor shall provide BPEP with summarized results that must include: type of case, description of the case that includes sufficient information to determine the nature of the case, and current status. Other results may include date initiated, docket number, charge, ruling, decision, fine, etc. The Contractor shall e-mail the summarized results to the BPEP contact or contacts within ten (10) calendar days of being notified of the names of the organizations and their associated HROs.

The Contractor shall conduct a minimum of four (4) litigation searches per site visited applicant to include:

· federal lawsuit search for the applicant organization;

· federal lawsuit search for the organization’s HRO(s);

· local jurisdiction lawsuit search for the applicant organization; and

· local jurisdiction lawsuit search for the organization’s HRO(s).

Additional searches shall be conducted if an applicant organization has more than one HRO.

Summary Report:

The Contractor shall create a summary report of the results found for open or pending lawsuits for each organization and HRO, this shall include instances where no open or pending lawsuits are found. If any cases are open or pending, the Contractor shall provide sufficient information in order to determine the nature of the case. For example, in a health care setting, medical malpractice or wrongful death may be listed as the nature of the case.

The Contractor shall transmit these reports electronically to BPEP within ten (10) calendar days of the initial search request from BPEP. These summary reports must be clearly legible and the information labelled (for example, in a table format) as to which organization(s) and/or HROs it references.

BPEP will determine if the level of information provided by the Contractor is not sufficient*, and will communicate this to the Contractor within five (5) calendar days after receiving each summary report. The Contractor shall make any needed changes or provide additional information (as BPEP determines) within five (5) calendar days from receipt of written or verbal communication from BPEP.

*In some cases, the Program requires more information than is provided in the summary. For example, the summary available from the local jurisdiction may not provide sufficient information to determine the nature of the case, saying that the case is a civil suit, but not providing further information. In such a case, BPEP will request additional information and the Contractor shall email copies of the docket upon receipt of the request.

Requests for Additional Information:

Upon receipt of a request for additional information from BPEP regarding full results for open or pending lawsuits, the Contractor shall prepare an estimate of the per page cost and copy the full docket, or a portion of it, as requested by BPEP, and the Contractor shall securely transmit the copies electronically to BPEP within five (5) calendar days of the request for additional information from BPEP.

Proper Disposal of Information:

The Contractor shall shred any paper copies of reports that are retained by the Contractor 90 days after sending the originals to BPEP. The Contractor shall delete and purge any electronic files and associated backups that are retained six (6) months after sending the files to NIST. The Contractor shall notify BPEP in writing that deliverable 5 below has been completed.

4. Deliverables and Deliverable Due Dates

5. Period of Performance and Place of Performance

BASE PERIOD: 08 Aug 2015 through 07 Aug 2016

OPTION YEAR 1: 08 Aug 2016 through 07 Aug 2017

OPTION YEAR 2: 08 Aug 2017 through 07 Aug 2018

OPTION YEAR 3: 08 Aug 2018 through 07 Aug 2019

OPTION YEAR 4: 08 Aug 2019 through 07 Aug 2020

All work will occur during mid-August through November each year.

Place of Performance

Tasks shall be performance at the Contractor’s facilities.

However; resources shall be in place and available to physically visit the court facilities because not all court records are on-line.

The Contractor must be available by telephone and email for non-sensitive data exchanges.

6. Government Furnished Property, Data, and/or Information

All information provided by the Government during performance of this project remains the property of the Government and shall not be released to anyone outside of BPEP.

After award, and when the list of organizations and HROs is determined to be final by BPEP, it will provide the Contractor with a list of the names of site visited organizations, the city and state where the organization’s headquarters are located, and each organization’s HRO(s).

7. Performance Requirement Summary

Report received by BPEP within the timeframe specified in the Statement of Work

Reports and copies received via a secure electronic transmission method

- additional information when requested by BPEP within the timeframe specified in this document

-all information transmitted in a secure manner Review of summary reports by BPEP to determine if any further information must be requested

8. Contractor’s Minimum Qualifications

Correspondent coverage: Federal lawsuits can typically be searched through a central, subscription database, such as Pacer or Westlaw; however, local jurisdiction searches often require a correspondent to go to the local courthouse to conduct such searches, so correspondent availability in all 43,000+ U.S. jurisdictions is necessary since Baldrige site visited applicants may be located in any jurisdiction; therefore, the Contractor must be capable of providing searches in every U.S. jurisdiction a site visit organization may be located in within the time frame defined herein.

***END OF STATEMENT OF WORK***

***QUOTATION PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS***

***All offerors shall submit the following:

Technical Quotation (Vol. I), Past Performance/References (Vol. II) and a Business/Pricing Quotation (Vol. III), as three (3) separate electronic files. Incomplete quotations may be considered non-compliant and removed from further consideration. Quotations shall be clearly and concisely written as well as being neat, indexed (cross-indexed as appropriate) and logically assembled. All pages of each part shall be appropriately numbered and identified with the name of the offeror, the date, and the solicitation number. A one-page transmittal letter signed by an individual authorized to commit the organization shall be transmitted with the quotation to the Government. Each quotation shall be on 8.5” x 11” paper, in a commercially standard font, not smaller than 12 point font. Each page in the quotation shall be separately numbered. The quotation shall be limited to twenty (20) single-sided, single-spaced pages (excluding the letter of transmittal, cover letter, and past-performance information).

Overall Arrangement of Documents

Technical Quotation addressing all technical subfactors (Volume I) - No pricing information shall be included in the technical quotation

Past Performance/References (Volume II)

Business/Pricing Quotation (Volume III)

VOLUME I: TECHNICAL

NIST will evaluate quotations, based on the information submitted in support of these factors/subfactors, using the following subfactors:

Technical SubFactor 1 Technical Approach

The offeror shall provide sufficient information to demonstrate its understanding of the tasks associated with litigation searches as defined in the SoW and include a concise, detailed, and thorough discussion of its approach for conducting both US District Court and local jurisdictional searches.

Technical SubFactor 2 Organizational Experience

The offeror shall describe its organizational experience in performing three (3) recent and relevant projects for conducting nationwide litigation searches of a similar nature.

VOLUME II: PAST PERFORMANCE/REFERENCES

The offeror shall provide three (3) examples of past performance conducted within the last five years of contracts for relevant work of a similar type and scope as the current requirement with federal, state or local governments and/or commercial customers. If the offeror has no relevant past performance it should include a statement to that effect in its quotation. The government reserves the right to consider past performance data obtained from sources other than those provided by the offeror in its quotation.

The description of each reference described in this section shall not exceed a half page. For each of the contracts, the offeror shall provide the following information:

· Contract number

· Client’s name and address and point of contact, including telephone number and e-mail address

· Dollar value

· Period of performance

· Narrative describing the requirement and its relevance to the current requirement

· Name of contracting officer or point of contact, telephone number and e-mail address

VOLUME III: PRICE

1. Price - firm, fixed-price to conduct nationwide litigation searches as defined in the SoW;

PROPOSED PRICING

BASE PERIOD

OPTION YEAR 1

OPTION YEAR 2

OPTION YEAR 3

OPTION YEAR 4

***UNLESS THE OFFEROR PROPOSES AN ALTERNATIVE INVOICING FREQUENCY, INVOICING IS EXPECTED TO BE MONTHLY IN ARREARS PER SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED SEARCHES AND GOVERNMENT ACCEPTANCE OF THE ASSOCIATED SUMMARY REPORTS***

***EVALUATION***

The Government will award a purchase order resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose quotation is the most highly rated, and conforming to the solicitation, results in the best value to the Government, non-price and price factors considered. NIST reserves the right to make award to other than the lowest-priced offeror or to the offeror ranked highest technically, if it determines that to do so would result in the best value to the Government.

The Government intends to make a single award and reserves the right to make no award as a result of this RFQ.

The Government intends to evaluate quotations and award a purchase order without discussions with offerors. Therefore, the offeror's initial quotation 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 and or all quotations if such action is in the public interest; accept other than the lowest price quotation; and waive informalities and minor irregularities in quotation received.

Non-price factors are listed in descending order of importance. Technical is more important than Past Performance. Technical subfactors are of equal importance. Technical and Past Performance, when combined, are approximately equal in importance to price.

***EVALUATION CRITERIA***

***Technical

***Technical SubFactor 1 Technical Approach

The Government will evaluate the offeror's technical approach based on the information contained in the technical quotation to determine the extent of its methodology for conducting nationwide litigation searches and to effectively meet and comply with the tasks outlined in the SoW.

***Technical SubFactor 2 Organizational Experience

The Government will evaluate the offeror’s organizational experience examples submitted to determine the extent to which the offeror’s general background and experience demonstrate its ability to conduct nationwide litigation searches organizationally and for HROs.

***Past Performance The Government will evaluate the offeror's past performance information to determine its relevance to the current requirements and the extent to which it demonstrates that the offeror has successfully completed relevant contracts in the past five (5) years. In assessing the offeror's past performance, NIST may evaluate the quality, timeliness, and ability to control cost and schedule of the past work. The Government will assign a neutral rating to offerors with no relevant past performance in the past three years. Past performance will be evaluated by contacting appropriate references, including NIST references, if applicable.

***Price

The Government will evaluate the offeror's proposed prices to determine whether the proposed prices are realistic and reasonable in relation to the solicitation requirements.

CLAUSES

The full text of a FAR provision or clause may be accessed electronically at http://acquisition.gov/far/index.html

The following FAR provisions apply to this acquisition:

52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors – Commercial Items;

52.212-3 Offerors Representations and Certifications- Commercial Items;

52.222-22 Previous Contracts and Compliance Reports;

52.222-25 Affirmative Action Compliance;

52.225-25 Prohibition on Contracting with Entities Engaging in Sanctioned Activities Relating to Iran – Representation and Certification

52.252-1 Solicitation Provisions Incorporated by Reference

Solicitation Provisions Incorporated by Reference (Feb 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 quotation or offer. In lieu of submitting the full text of those provisions, the offeror may identify the provision by paragraph identifier and provide the appropriate information with its quotation or offer. Also, the full text of a solicitation provision may be accessed electronically at this/these address(es): http://acquisition.gov/far/index.html

All interested offerors must be actively registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) website located at https://www.sam.gov and must complete annual representations on-line in SAM in accordance with FAR 52.212-3 Offerors Representations and Certifications- Commercial Items. If paragraph (j) of the provision is applicable, a written submission is required.

The following FAR clauses apply to this acquisition:

Representation by Corporations Regarding an Unpaid Delinquent Tax Liability or a Felony Conviction Under Any Federal Law (Class Deviation) (March 2015)

(1) In accordance with Sections 744 and 745 of Division E, Title VII, of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 (Pub. L. 113-235), none of the funds made available by the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 funding may be used to enter into a contract with any corporation that-

(a) Was convicted of a felony criminal violation under any Federal law within the preceding 24 months, where the awarding agency is aware of the conviction, unless the agency has considered suspension or debarment of the corporation and has made a determination that this further action is not necessary to protect the interests of the Government, or

(b) Has any unpaid Federal tax liability that has been assessed, for which all judicial and administrative remedies have been exhausted or have lapsed, and that is not being paid in a timely manner pursuant to an agreement with the authority responsible for collecting the tax liability, where the awarding agency is aware of the unpaid tax liability, unless the agency has considered suspension or debarment of the corporation and made a determination that this further action is not necessary to protect the interests of the Government.

(2) The Offeror represents that, as of the date of this offer-

(a) It is [ ] is not [ ] a corporation that was convicted of a felony criminal violation under a Federal law within the preceding 24 months.

(b) It is [ ] is not [ ] a corporation that has any unpaid Federal tax liability that has been assessed, for which all judicial and administrative remedies have been exhausted or have lapsed, and that is not being paid in a timely manner pursuant to an agreement with the authority responsible for collecting the tax liability.

52.203-98, Prohibition on Contracting with Entities that Require Certain Internal Confidentiality Agreements—Representation (DEVIATION 2015-02)

Prohibition on Contracting with Entities that Require Certain Internal Confidentiality Agreements—Representation (FEB 2015)

(a) In accordance with section 743 of Division E, Title VII, of the Consolidated and

Further Continuing Resolution Appropriations Act, 2015 (Pub. L. 113-235), Government agencies are not permitted to use funds appropriated (or otherwise made available) under that or any other Act for contracts with an entity that requires employees or subcontractors of such entity seeking to report fraud, waste, or abuse to sign internal confidentiality agreements or statements prohibiting or otherwise restricting such employees or subcontractors from lawfully reporting such waste, fraud, or abuse to a designated investigative or law enforcement representative of a Federal department or agency authorized to receive such information.

(b) The prohibition in paragraph (a) of this provision does not contravene requirements applicable to Standard Form 312, Form 4414, or any other form issued by a Federal department or agency governing the nondisclosure of classified information.

(c) Representation. By submission of its offer, the Offeror represents that it does not require employees or subcontractors of such entity seeking to report fraud, waste, or abuse to sign internal confidentiality agreements or statements prohibiting or otherwise restricting such employees or subcontractors from lawfully reporting such waste, fraud, or abuse to a designated investigative or law enforcement representative of a Federal department or agency authorized to receive such information.

52.204-19 Incorporation by Reference of Representations and Certifications;

52.217-5 Evaluation of Options;

52.217-8 Option to Extend Services 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 of contract expiration.

52.217-9 Option to Extend the Term of the Contract.

Option to Extend the Term of the Contract (Mar 2000)

(a) The Government may extend the term of this contract by written notice to the Contractor within 1 day; provided that the Government gives the Contractor a preliminary written notice of its intent to extend at least 2 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.

52.227-14 Rights in Data—General;

52.232-39 Unenforceability of Unauthorized Obligations;

52.232-40 Providing Accelerated Payments to Small Business Subcontractors;

52.252-2 Clauses Incorporated by Reference;

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 of a clause may be accessed electronically at this/these address(es): http://acquisition.gov/far/index.html

52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions—Commercial Items;

52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders— Commercial Items including subparagraphs:

52.204-10 Reporting Executive Compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards;

52.219-6 Notice of Total Small Business Set-Aside;

52.219-13 Notice of Set-Aside of Orders;

52.222-3 Convict Labor;

52.222-21 Prohibition of Segregated Facilities;

52.222-26 Equal Opportunity;

52.222-36 Affirmative Action for Workers with Disabilities;

52.222-50 Combatting Trafficking in Persons;

52.223-18 Contractor Policy to Ban Text Messaging While Driving;

52.225-13 Restriction on Certain Foreign Purchases; and 52.232-33 Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer-Central Contractor Registration The following Department of Commerce (CAR) provision applies to this acquisition:

1352.213-70 Evaluation Utilizing Simplified Acquisition Procedures

The following Department of Commerce (CAR) clauses apply to this acquisition:

1352.201-70 Contracting Officer’s Authority;

1352.208-70 Restrictions on Printing and Duplicating;

1352.209-72 Restrictions Against Disclosure;

1352.209-73 Compliance with the Laws;

1352.209-74 Organizational Conflict of Interest;

1352.246-70 Place of Acceptance;

NIST LOCAL CLAUSE - BILLING INSTRUCTIONS:

(a) NIST prefers electronic Invoice/Voucher submissions and they should be emailed to invoice@nist.gov

(b) Each Invoice or Voucher submitted shall include the following: (1) Contract Number. (2) Contractor Name and Address. (3) Date of Invoice. (4) Invoice Number. (5) Amount of Invoice and Cumulative Amount Invoiced to-date. (6) Contract Line Item Number (CLIN). (7) Description, Quantity, Unit of Measure, Unit Price, and Extended Price of Supplies/Services Delivered. (8) Prompt Payment Discount Terms, if Offered. (9) Any other information or documentation required by the contract.

(c) In the event electronic submissions are not used, The Contractor shall submit an original invoice or voucher in accordance with the payment provisions of this contract to:

NIST: Accounts Payable Office

100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 1621

Gaithersburg, MD 20899-1621 And other appropriate clauses as needed

Department of Commerce Agency-Level Protest Procedures Level above the Contracting Officer is also incorporated. It can be downloaded at www.nist.gov/admin/od/contract/agency.htm ***This is an Open-Market Combined Synopsis/Solicitation for services as defined herein. The Government intends to award a Purchase Order as a result of this Combined Synopsis/Solicitation that will include the terms and conditions that are set forth herein. In order to facilitate the award process, ALL quotes shall include a statement regarding the terms and conditions herein as follows:

The Offeror shall state “The terms and conditions in the solicitation are acceptable to be included in the award document without modification, deletion, or addition.”

OR

The Offeror shall state “The terms and conditions in the solicitation are acceptable to be included in the award document with the exception, deletion, or addition of the following:

Offeror shall list exception(s) and rationale for the exception(s).

Offerors that fail to furnish required representations or information, or reject the terms and conditions of the solicitation may be excluded from consideration.

***Please note that this procurement is not being conducted under the GSA Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) program or another Government-Wide Area Contract (GWAC). If an Offeror submits a quotation based upon an FSS or GWAC contract, the Government will accept the quoted price. However, the terms and conditions stated herein will be included in any resultant Purchase Order, not the terms and conditions of the Offeror’s FSS or GWAC contract, and the statement required above shall be included in the quotation.

***Offerors shall e-mail their quotation to randy.schroyer@nist.gov so that it is received by the response date/time for this solicitation. It is the responsibility of the offeror to confirm NIST’s receipt of its quotation. Each quotation shall include sufficient data to allow the Government to determine the amount, realism and consistency of the quoted fixed price.

***All questions regarding this solicitation shall be submitted in writing via e-mail to the Contract Specialist, Randy Schroyer, at randy.schroyer@nist.gov no later than 5:00PM EST July 17 2015.

***The due date and time for receipt of quotations is July 23, 2015 no later than 5:00PM EST.