SOW FOR RFQ.docx

Request for Quotation Number 1333ND23QNB600560 Statement of Work

BACKGROUND

On February 4, 2014, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced the formation of the Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC) for Forensic Science. The OSAC is a collaborative body of approximately 500 forensic science practitioners and other experts who represent all levels of the government, academia and industry.

NIST established the OSAC to strengthen the nation’s use of forensic science by supporting the development and promulgation of forensic science consensus documentary standards and guidelines. The ultimate objective of the OSAC is to create a sustainable organizational infrastructure that produces consensus documentary standards and guidelines to improve quality and consistency of work in the forensic science community.

OSAC-approved standards and guidelines will make up the OSAC Registry. The registry will be freely available.

The OSAC is made up of 30 OSAC units, which includes 22 Subcommittees, 7 Scientific Area Committees (SAC), and the Forensic Science Standards Board (FSSB).

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

The Contractor shall conduct a site search of available venues for the anticipated event. The Contractor shall utilize the results of the site search to recommend available venues for the OSAC event listed below.

The Contractor shall secure meeting space, AV equipment/services & lodging room blocks for all attendees and provide meeting planning and support for the OSAC event listed below.

Team B: Physics/Pattern SAC, Medicine SAC, Chemistry: Trace Evidence SAC, and Biology SAC, scheduled for one week, Sunday through Friday in May 2024.

The Government anticipates that 210 individuals will be in attendance.

During the event, the SACs, and the subcommittees within each of the SACs will hold meetings throughout the week discussing the latest OSAC standards up for review.

The venue for the meeting must be in one of the following geographic regions. No other geographic regions will be acceptable to the Government.

a. Arizona – Phoenix

b. Arizona - Tucson

c. Indiana - Indianapolis

-No registration fees shall be charged to attendees to participate in the meeting.

-The Contractor is not required to provide any registration tools or registration processes or conduct pre-meeting attendee management.

-The Contractor shall not provide any food or beverage for the meeting.

-The venue must meet the Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act of 1990 (Pub. L. No.101-391, September 25, 1990 as amended by Pub. L. No. 105-85, November 18, 1997).

-The venue must not be a casino property.

-In the event an unplanned emergency or weather causes NIST to be unable the meeting during the period indicated, NIST shall coordinate with the Contractor to reschedule the meetings not later than 90 days after the Government provides notification to the Contractor of the need to reschedule. The rescheduling shall take place at no charge or penalty to the Government. The Contractor shall provide alternate dates in the event of hazardous weather, which may be subject to negotiation with the Government.

SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS

Task 1 - SITE SEARCH The Contractor shall conduct a site search for the meeting. The search must identify potential sites for the event based upon the requirements identified herein as well as the following:

-The Contractor shall identify properties that accommodate meeting room, lodging, and audio-visual requirements.

-The Contractor shall identify properties that meet the Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act of 1990 (Pub. L. No.101-391, September 25, 1990 as amended by Pub. L. No. 105- 85, November 18, 1997).

-The Contractor shall not include casinos properties.

-The Contractor shall prepare a location comparison report to identify potential locations for the event. The location comparison report must include all of the following at a minimum:

*Name, address, point of contact, phone number, email address, and available dates for each potential site. The Contractor shall identify at least five potential venue sites;

*Number of sleeping rooms and meeting rooms available at each site;

*Floor plans of the meeting space, and room dimensions, room configurations, and capacity charts for rooms;

*Audio-visual equipment and services available at each site as well as whether or not third-party audio-visual suppliers can be utilized;

*Whether sites are AV union facilities;

*Attrition clauses and cancellation liabilities that will be identified in the contract of each venue;

-The Contractor shall provide the location comparison report to the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR). The COR and NIST’s Subject Matter Expert (SME)shall provide a written response to the Contractor and identify the Government’s top three choices of the properties submitted by the Contractor.

-The Contractor shall proceed to confirm availability of the Government’s first venue site choice, for the meeting dates and secure the space for the event. Should the first venue site choice not be available, the Contractor shall proceed to the 2nd choice.

-The Contractor shall negotiate all terms and sign the contract with the venue.

Reservation of Meeting Space The Government reserves the right to require the Contractor delay securing the venue for the meeting, should any circumstances, including COVID-19, and the Government’s actions relevant to those circumstances, require this action.

The Contractor may be asked to request a “courtesy hold” at the venue the Government determines to be its first choice. If such a hold is requested, the Contractor must ensure that any courtesy hold is non-committal, non-binding, and does not include or require any financial commitment and/or risk to the Government. If a courtesy hold imposes any commitment, risk or obligation to the Government, the hold shall not be requested. If the hold is requested, and the space is sold to another party, the Contractor must notify the Government via email or phone.

The Contractor shall not enter a binding commitment, contract, and/or agreement with any venue prior to written notification by the COR confirming that the in- person meeting will be conducted. Should the Contractor choose to take such action, they do so at their own risk.

Task 2: Meeting Planning & Support -The Contractor’s Project Manager and relevant staff shall attend at minimum, two planning meetings with the Contracting Officer’s Representative, from NIST’s OSAC Program Office, other NIST-authorize personnel, and OSAC Committee members. Meetings shall commence no later than one week after the date of award and be conducted via conference call or webcast. The NIST COR shall schedule the meetings and provide call-in numbers for the meetings.

-The Contractor shall meet with the OSAC Program Office Subject Matter Expert, on a weekly basis, at a minimum, to ensure all meeting planning, logistical issues and questions are addressed.

-The Contractor, in consultation with the COR and OSAC Program Office staff, shall draft, modify, and finalize the meeting agendas that accompanies the meeting.

-The Contractor, in consultation with the COR and OSAC Program Office staff, shall prepare and create meeting room maps detailing the meeting room locations of each OSAC unit for each meeting.

-The Contractor shall write a logistics letter that will be distributed to all attendees, by the OSAC Program Office, one week prior to the meeting. The logistics letter shall include information regarding travel reminders, site information, meeting attachments, any scheduling information, special instructions, and additional information requested by the COR.

-The Contractor, in consultation with the COR, shall compile, print, and provide all the necessary printouts for meeting attendees, for distribution at the registration desk. A limited number of 50 copies will be printed and made available at the registration desk. The handouts may include, but are not limited to, agenda, logistical handouts, meeting room maps, photo schedule, content-related handouts, facility amenities and maps. Handouts may include black/white or color, which will depend on the content being printed. The page counts may vary between 1-6 pages. Total pages will not exceed 3000. Handouts can be on standard weight paper and bound with an upper-corner staple, if appropriate.

-The Contractor shall choose an appropriate badge and print name tags for each of the meeting’s attendees. The attendee list will be provided electronically, in a spreadsheet format, to the Contractor two weeks prior to the meeting, by the COR. Name tags shall be provided by the Contractor. A standard 3’x4’ paper badge, printed single-sides, inserted into a standard clip-style plastic name badge holder is sufficient. Lanyards are not required. Name tags shall be distributed to attendees, at the registration table, prior to and during the meeting.

-The Contractor shall ship all contractor-provided meeting-related supplies to the meeting. Meeting supplies shall include, but are not limited to badge holders, badge trays, printer paper, pens, markers, highlighters, post-its, push pins, staplers, scissors, tape, flipcharts, laser pointer, and AV connection cords. In addition, the Contractor shall ship basic meeting supplies for the registry desk and Contractor offices.

-The Contractor shall arrange for shipping services that allows the meeting material to arrive onsite for meeting setup and execution per the final meeting agenda.

-The Contractor shall arrange for receiving prior to the meeting and storage space at the venue for all meeting materials to be used by the OSAC Program Office and the Contractor. Onsite storage at the venue of material meeting is required for up to two (2) weeks prior to the meeting start date. Receiving and storage for packages, parcels, cases, and shipping containers not to exceed 10 items. The weight of these items will depend on the materials shipped.

-The Contractor shall ensure onsite support is available to answer questions and resolve issues that arise during the meeting, troubleshoot internet access and/or audio-visual issues, and provide direction to meeting attendees with respect to the location of various meeting spaces.

-The Contractor shall provide an onsite coordinator that possesses experience with large-scale meetings (over 150 attendees) consisting of multiple concurrent activities and breakout sessions.

-The Contractor shall provide staff to manage the registration desk all days of the meeting and provide administrative support to attendees such as, making copies and answering questions.

-The Contractor, in consultation with OSAC Program Office staff, shall arrange a photographic schedule for each OSAC Unit for the meeting. This arrangement will be finalized with input from OSAC Program Office staff. The Contractor shall provide photographic services for the meeting, using Contractor-provided equipment such as a smart phone camera or compact digital camera and shall include photos of each OSAC unit, plenary session, award session, and action photos, as appropriate, at the meeting. At least two full days of photographic support are required for the meeting. Photographs must be quality with resolutions sufficient to be used in presentations and webpage materials. The services of a professional photographer are not required.

-The Contractor shall notify participants through the agenda, the photo schedule, and/or the logistics letter that they will be photographed and that these images will be used by OSAC in the future.

-The Contractor shall provide all digital photos to OSAC Program Office within five business days after the event. The Contractor shall not retain any of the images, in any format, for their use or for any other reason or purpose.

-The Contractor shall coordinate, with OSAC Program Office staff, registration desk activities. This includes creating and using sign-in sheets for participants to initial as they pick up their meeting materials for the meeting.

-The Contractor shall serve as the point of contact for the meeting site, AV and hotel questions prior to and during the meeting. This includes, but is not limited to logistical issues, meeting room issues, AV issues, sleeping rooms, and billing issues.

-The Contractor shall provide onsite printing capabilities or make a printer/copier/scanner available for meeting attendees at the meeting site, with the number of black and white copies/sheets printed not to exceed 3,000 sheets. The printer/copier/scanner should be available through printing cable, hard wired networked or Wi-Fi enabled. Printing estimates from past events are:

*200 black/white copies of 5 pages of logistics hand out includes facility amenities & Venue Site maps;

*200 black/white copies of 2-page content handouts;

*200 color copies of 3-page color agenda;

*200 color copies of 2-page black/white or color meeting room maps;

Estimated total for the event: 1260 black/white copies & 900 Color copies.

-The Contractor shall prepare meeting rooms, prepare, and supply audio-visual (A/V) equipment and services for the meeting.

-The Contractor shall have sufficient meeting signage and direction for all the meeting rooms. Signage shall be digital or printed. If printed, the signage shall not be smaller than 8.5” x 11” per sign, or comparable, based on the facility’s existing fixed wall signage. Signage shall be placed outside of each meeting room and shall identify the name of the OSAC unit for each meeting room. The Contractor shall have directional signage throughout the facility indicating where the plenary will be located as well as where the OSAC registration desk is located. If the meeting site has an electronic listing of events, the Contractor shall ensure that the OSAC meetings are listed electronically.

-The Contractor shall close out each the meeting at the end of each week. This includes, at a minimum, shipping supplies back to their facility and going through meeting rooms to check for items left in them.

-The Contractor will not be responsible for return shipping of material sent or provided by the OSAC Program Office. The Government will return ship all meeting materials used by the OSAC Program Office.

-The Contractor will not perform any pre-event presenter management services nor any exhibitor services.

TASK 3: Venue Requirements

3.1 Meeting Rooms

The venue must provide all of the following meeting space, at a minimum:

-19 concurrent OSAC unit breakout rooms;

-3 task group rooms;

-1 plenary room, which will be converted to working pods following the General Session;

-1 OSAC Program Office and Contractor Staff space;

-An area for meeting registration, and -Available open space to setup 8 to 20 Working Pods.

-Venues shall have a three-diamond or higher rating from Triple A (AAA) within the past three years.

-The venue shall have available dining/restaurant options either on-site or within a short walking distance so that attendees can take breaks and return to the meeting within 30-minute intervals.

-Reference detailed requirements for each meeting room in the Meeting Space Requirements and Meeting Space Times & Summary charts below.

3.2 Sleeping Rooms

-The Contractor shall secure sleeping rooms for overnight attendees, described in the sleeping room schedule below, that is at or below the current government per diem rate and taxes for the geographic location where the meeting takes place.

-The Contractor shall secure a sleeping room block for a total of 210 federal and non-federal participants. A total of 50 participants will be federal employees; 160 will be non-federal participants. The Contractor shall ensure lodging room blocks are available at the federal per diem, or less, for all attendees.

-Two separate mechanisms must be established for individual travelers to make lodging reservations for the meeting. One mechanism for “Federal” travelers. The second mechanism for Non-Federal travelers.

-Travelers will make their own reservations via the two separate reservation mechanisms for Federal and non-Federal travelers, for the meeting.

-The Contractor shall cover all costs for the non-federal attendees’ room nights and relevant room night taxes upon check-out. The Contractor shall NOT pay for federal attendees’ room nights/taxes. Two weeks prior to the start date of the meeting, the COR will provide the Contractor with a participant list. The list will include the names of participants that are not federal employees. The Government reserves the right to change the names on the participant list, prior to the meeting date; however, the total number of non-federal participants shall not exceed the total identified above.

-Where applicable, the Contractor shall secure the lodging rooms as tax exempt for all travelers or, at a minimum, Federal travelers.

-Sleeping room blocks have been calculated for each meeting based upon historical information and the percentage of membership that is reasonably expected to attend.

-Sleeping room numbers are not guaranteed.

-The Contractor shall ensure that only meeting dates are covered under this contract for lodging rooms. Should travelers book lodging reservations for days before or after the dates specific above, individual travelers shall be responsible for these costs.

-In total, 740 room nights must be secured. This includes 565 for non-federal attendees and 175 for federal attendees. The Contractor shall be responsible for paying the lodging costs associated with the 565 room nights for non-federal attendees.

Sleeping Room Schedule

Meeting Space Requirements

Breakout Room Designation (room sign)

Counter, Table, Chairs

8-20 Tables 4-6 Chairs at each Table

Meeting Space Times & Summary

Rooms and Setup

Sun May 2024 2pm-6pm Mon May 2024 7:30am-7:30pm Tues May 2024 7:30am-6:30pm Wed May 2024 7:30am-6:30pm Thurs May 2024 7:30am-6:30pm Fri May 2024 7am-12pm

12pm – Strike All Rooms

19 Concurrent Rooms

3 Task Group Rooms

8 to 10 Working Pods

Plenary Space

8-10 Working Pods

PLENARY SESSION A.M.

FLIP TO WORKING PODS P.M.

IN USE

AS WORKING PODS

IN USE

AS WORKING PODS

STRIKE ALL

SETUP

X

X

Total Spaces Rooms

Daily Meeting Plan:

· Sunday, May 2024 – Receive amd storage of meeting materials using Staff Office; Setup of Staff Office and Registration Space.

· Sunday, May 2024 - Shoulder day for guest arrival.

· Monday, May 2024 – Setup and load in of all meeting rooms required, including AV. Room requirements as noted above. Evening Registration area required, until 7:30pm.

· Monday, May 2024 - Travel day. Guests arrive.

· Tuesday, May 2024 – Registration, Plenary General Sessions, & Breakout Sessions. Meeting room requirements as noted above. Flip Plenary General Session room to Working Pods in the afternoon following General Session

· Wednesday, May 2024 – Registration, Plenary General Sessions, & Breakout Sessions. Meeting room requirements as noted above.

· Thursday, May 2024 - Registration, Plenary General Sessions, & Breakout Sessions. Meeting room requirements as noted above.

· Friday, May 2024 – Registration, Staff Office and Open Area Working Pods required as noted above, until 12:00pm.

· Friday, May 2024 - Teardown and close out of meeting space as noted above, after 12:00pm.

· Friday, May 2024 - Shoulder day for guest departure.

3.3 Audio/Visual Requirements:

The facility shall provide wireless internet capability for all 210 participants and specific audio-visual equipment/services in each concurrent meeting room, breakout room and task group room as follows:

1. One high-speed internet connection per meeting room, when specifically requested by the OSAC Program Office. Plenary Room may need this connection. WiFi accessibility may render this requirement unnecessary.

2. WiFi internet connection for all meeting rooms in all meeting space for all attendees, including OSAC Office, Registration area, and Working Pods.

3. Access to a secured portion of the WiFi internet connection for up to 10 attendees when specifically requested by the OSAC Program Office. Secured access will be provided through a login and password.

4. Minimum of 4 power strips, additional power strips shall be installed based on the room setup as described above allowing 1 power strip for 6 seats, including Staff Office, Registration area, and working pods.

5. Projector and/or screen in each meeting and task room; Projector should have speaker capabilities to broadcast in room audio and video of meeting content and virtual meeting attendees, using virtual meeting platform (i.e., MS Teams, Zoom). No other sound amplification equipment is required.

6. Cables and cords necessary for AV functionality,

7. Easel and flipchart with pens/markers for up to 5 breakout rooms available for when specifically requested by the OSAC Program Office.

8. Plenary Meeting Room shall have a podium, stationary microphone, walk-around microphone, projector, screen, appropriate AV and virtual meeting equipment to facilitate a hybrid meeting for in-person and remote attendees, and one-high speed internet connection. The Plenary Meeting room does not require any enhanced lighting.

9. Staff Office and Registration shall have WiFi internet connection and power strips as noted above.

10. Working Pods shall have WiFi internet connection and electrical power only for a minimum of 2 power strips per pod.

11. Laptops are not required in any of the meeting or breakout rooms. Laptops will be supplied by the OSAC Program Office or attendees will use their own.

For the purpose of this statement of work, the “hybrid” element of the Committee Meetings is defined below for Breakout Rooms and Plenary Room.

Breakout Rooms:

Virtual attendees will only listen and watch. Online attendees will join the meeting by logging into a NIST MS Teams room via attendee-owned laptop computers. Two-way conversation is not required. The content, audio, and video shared will be shared in the virtual meeting platform. Virtual attendees will see a shared screen, by the leader or presenter, in the virtual meeting platform. The content shared in the room for in person attendees will be the same content shared with the virtual attendees, using the NIST MS Teams virtual platform; Shared Screen, Presenter on Camera, Projected on Screen via Data Projector. No additional cameras, audio, sound control or other Contractor support is required for the hybrid element of the meeting. The anticipated number of virtual attendees may range from 5-10 and will join the meeting per the committee leader’s agenda. The Contractor will NOT provide virtual meeting platform support for each room. Close captioning and sign language services are not required.

Plenary Room:

Virtual attendees will only listen and watch. Online attendees will join the meeting by logging into a NIST MS Teams room via attendee-owned laptop computers. Two-way conversation is not required. The content, audio, and video shared will be shared in the virtual meeting platform. Virtual attendees will see a shared screen, by the leader or presenter, in the virtual meeting platform. The content shared in the room for in person attendees will be the same content shared with the virtual attendees, using the NIST MS Teams virtual platform; Shared Screen, Presenter on Camera, Projected on Screen via Data Projector. The anticipated number of virtual attendees may range from 20-45 and will join the meeting per the plenary agenda.

OSAC Program Office staff will be the presenter and moderator on the virtual platform. The presenter will share content and audio with in-person meeting attendees using the projector and speaker audio system in the room AND will share content, video, and audio with the virtual attendees using the shared screen and microphone in the virtual meeting platform. The presenter will live stream the plenary session using the virtual meeting platform.

The A/V or Sound system in the Plenary Room may require hardware or an adapter to facilitate the integration of the laptop presentation, visual of the presenter, and microphone audio, to be transmitted to the virtual online attendees, using MS Teams which can be provided by an AV provider.

OSAC Program office staff will moderate the online attendee’s interaction using the virtual platform chat or messaging feature manually to integrate the virtual and in person attendee’s communications.

All Rooms: Close captioning and sign language services are not required.

The virtual meeting tool – MS TEAMS - will be provided by the Government.

There are no planned pre-recordings.

Task 4: Reporting Requirements The Contractor shall provide periodic updates and reports summarizing the room reservations for the meeting. The reports are required to be sent via email to the COR and SME in either MS excel or Adobe PDF format. The reports shall be provided:

1. Upon request

2. Two weeks prior to the event

3. One week prior to the event

4. Final rooming list provided to NIST at the conclusion of the event.

DELIVERABLES

Location Comparison report Due Date: 45 days after award

Two Planning and Status Meetings Due Date: To be agreed upon between the Government and the Contractor

Separate Reservation mechanisms established for Federal and Non-Federal travelers Due Date: 3 months prior to meeting start date

Meeting Agenda Draft Due Date: 30 calendar days prior to meeting start date Final Agenda Due Date: 7 calendar days prior to meeting start date

Meeting Room Handout Map Draft Due Date: 30 calendar days prior to meeting start date Final Room Handout Map Due Date: 7 calendar days prior to meeting start date

Meeting Packages at Registration Due Date: Day of Registration

Name Tags for All Participants Due Date: Day of Registration

Logistics Letter for All Attendees Draft Due Date: 30 calendar days prior to meeting start date Final Due Date: 7 calendar days prior to meeting start date

Event Costs:

Due Date: 30 calendar days following meeting completion date

On-site Meeting Support for the duration of the event Completion Date: May 2024

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance shall be from the date of award through June 30, 2024.