ASL Services

Added: Jul 18, 2017 1:59 pm Subject: Solicitation No. SAQMMA17R0202

In accordance with FAR section 15-206 - Amending the Solicitation the Government terms and conditions have change and require an amendment to the above subject solicitation.

The following information (i.e. RID: MCSC, CSC, CI/CT, NIC-M, NIC-A, NIC or NAD: NAD-V; or Certified CART Providers [CCP] through the National Court Reporters Association) has been updated on the following pages as listed below.

P. 09 of 73 - General Requirements
P. 10 of 73 - # 1 - It should read:

1. A total of ten (10) full time employees; to provide non-cleared and/or cleared, who are certified through RID: MCSC, CSC, CI/CT,NIC-M, NIC-A, NIC or NAD: NAD-V; or Certified CART Providers [CCP] through the National Court Reporters Association;

P. 13 of 73 - Desired Qualifications - Certified through a national certifying body.
P. 67 of 73 - Requirements section number 1.
P. 68 of 73 - Technical Methodology 4th bullet (sub bullet one)
p. 69 of 73 - Key Personnel - Throughout - See corrections listed above.
P. 71 of 73 - Technical Methodology - Bullet 7
p. 71 of 73 - Key Personnel Bullet 1, 2, 3

On Page 67 of 73 under Requirement - # 1 - 5 was revised and replaced with # 1-5 of page 10 as stated below:

1. A total of ten (10) full time employees; to provide non-cleared and/or cleared, who are certified
Through RID: MCSC, CSC, CI/CT, NIC-M, NIC-A, NIC or NAD: NAD-V; or Certified CART Providers [CCP] through the National Court Reporters Association;
2. Two (2) of them shall have a security clearance of TS or TS-SCI with a minimum of 3+ years of experience with a technical knowledge in the areas of Information Technology, Human Resources, Finance and Budget, Forensics, Document examination;
3. Two (2) others of the ten (10) full time employees of the Offeror shall be available to accept assignments world-wide on extended 90+ days of Temporary Duty, who possess a valid passport with greater than six (6) months prior to expiration from the date of potential travel.
4. Except for the required Offerors (Interpreters/CART reporters) the Administrative or Program staffing are not defined by the Government beyond what personal are necessary for the Offeror to effectively execute and manage the contract which should be addressed in the Offerors Organizational chart.
5. Shall possess a current facility clearance.

On page 69 of 73 under Key Personnel

Bullet three - is replaced with:

A total of ten (10) full time employees; to provide non-cleared and/or cleared, who are certified through RID: MCSC, CSC, CI/CT,NIC-M, NIC-A, NIC or NAD: NAD-V; or Certified CART Providers [CCP] through the National Court Reporters Association; Two (2) of them shall have a security clearance of TS or TS-SCI with a minimum of 3+ years of experience with a technical knowledge in the areas of Information Technology, Human Resources, Finance and Budget, Forensics, Document examination; Two (2) others of the ten (10) full time employees of the Offeror shall be available to accept assignments world-wide on extended 90+ days of Temporary Duty, who possess a valid passport with greater than six (6) months prior to expiration from the date of potential travel.

Bullet 8 - has been removed

Page 71 of 73 - Key Personnel - Bullet 3 - Replace with

A total of ten (10) full time employees; to provide non-cleared and/or cleared, who are certified through RID: MCSC, CSC, CI/CT,NIC-M, NIC-A, NIC or NAD: NAD-V; or Certified CART Providers [CCP] through the National Court Reporters Association; Two (2) of them shall have a security clearance of TS or TS-SCI with a minimum of 3+ years of experience with a technical knowledge in the areas of Information Technology, Human Resources, Finance and Budget, Forensics, Document examination; Two (2) others of the ten (10) full time employees of the Offeror shall be available to accept assignments world-wide on extended 90+ days of Temporary Duty, who possess a valid passport with greater than six (6) months prior to expiration from the date of potential travel.

You may desire to revise your proposal based on the above reflected revisions. Ensure any revision to your proposal is prepared in accordance with the Section L proposal preparation instructions contained in the subject solicitation. Also your proposal must include a statement that your proposal is valid for a period of 60 calendar days from the date established for receipt of your proposal revision. Submit your proposal revision to the attention of: stewartj@state.gov

Submissions received after the date and time set forth below will be late and considered only in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation Provision 52.215-1 titled "Instructions to Offerors - Competitive Acquisition" specified in the subject solicitation.

The due date for receipt of your proposal revision is August 2, 2017 by Noon EST prepared in accordance with the following instructions:

1. Include signed copy of model contract by an authorized representative of your company. Ensure you complete the fill-in all requirements CLINs cleared and non- cleared of Attachment A - Pricing Schedule of the proposed contract. Please note that any changes made subsequent to the solicitation issued on April 7, 2017 have been incorporated.

2. Changes must be clearly identified and traced back to either the initial proposal(s) submitted.

3. Copies of revisions, if any to your technical or cost proposals. Pages may be substituted so long as the maximum numbers of pages specified in the solicitation are not exceeded and proposal format and type size restrictions are complied with. Clearly identify the changes contained in any replacement page(s) to your original technical or cost proposals which were submitted in response solicitation.

Be advised that changes included in your proposal revision that are not fully substantiated or understandable may have a negative impact on the evaluation of your proposal. The Government intends to make award without further revisions.

Added: Jun 01, 2017 1:35 pm The Department of State is responding to follow up questions and have attached our response.  Each potential offeror is reminded that the date and time for submission of questions has passed.  No questions will be answered unless the Government determines the answer to the question imparts information material to offerors' ability to respond to the RFP.

In adddition potential offeors should check FBO for any posted information regarding this solicitation.

Added: May 25, 2017 3:25 pm Modified: May 30, 2017 2:58 pmTrack Changes The date for submission of proposals has been extended. Proposals should be returned to the Department of State on or before Tuesday, June 13, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time) via email to stewartj@state.gov.

The solicitation has been revised from multiple awards to single award. The revised requirements have been outlined in the revised solicitation under sections B, C and L.

Please note that it is the desire of the Government to obtain a single source Offeror who is technically able to provide the key staff, certified employees and Organizational structure to support the requirements of the Department of State and its employees requiring an accommodation. The following categories will be evaluated in the Offerors submitted proposal.

To qualify for the solicitation an Offeror must have the required staffing for the solicitation include:

1. A total of ten (10) full time employees; to provide non-cleared and/or cleared, who are certified (RID-MCSC, CSC, CI/CT; NIC-M; NIC-A or NAD-V)) and/or CART Providers (CCP) through the National Court Reporters Association;
2. Two (2) of them shall have a security clearance of TS or TS-SCI with a minimum of 3+ years of experience with a technical knowledge in the areas of Information Technology, Human Resources, Finance and Budget, Forensics, Document examination;
3. Two (2) others of the ten (10) full time employees of the Offeror shall be available to accept assignments world-wide on extended 90+ days of Temporary Duty, who possess a valid passport with greater than six (6) months prior to expiration from the date of potential travel.
4. Except for the required Offerors (Interpreters/CART reporters) the Administrative or Program staffing are not defined by the Government beyond what personal are necessary for the Offeror to effectively execute and manage the contract which should be addressed in the Offerors Organizational chart.
5. Shall possess a current facility clearance.

 Deparetment of State's response to questions is posted with this announcement.  In addition updated solicitation, covering letter, past performance survey and pricing schedule. 

Added: May 25, 2017 3:25 pm The date for submission of proposals has been extended. Proposals should be returned to the Department of State on or before Tuesday, June 13, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time) via email to stewartj@state.gov.

The solicitation has been revised from multiple awards to single award. The revised requirements have been outlined in the revised solicitation under sections B, C and L.

Please note that it is the desire of the Government to obtain a single source Offeror who is technically able to provide the key staff, certified employees and Organizational structure to support the requirements of the Department of State and its employees requiring an accommodation. The following categories will be evaluated in the Offerors submitted proposal.

To qualify for the solicitation an Offeror must have the required staffing for the solicitation include:

1. A total of ten (10) full time employees; to provide non-cleared and/or cleared, who are certified (RID-CSC, CI/CT; RID-CI/CT; NIC; NIC-A; NIC-M or NAD-V) and/or CART Providers (CCP) through the National Court Reporters Association;
2. Two (2) of them shall have a security clearance of TS or TS-SCI with a minimum of 3+ years of experience with a technical knowledge in the areas of Information Technology, Human Resources, Finance and Budget, Forensics, Document examination;
3. Two (2) others of the ten (10) full time employees of the Offeror shall be available to accept assignments world-wide on extended 90+ days of Temporary Duty, who possess a valid passport with greater than six (6) months prior to expiration from the date of potential travel.
4. Except for the required Offerors (Interpreters/CART reporters) the Administrative or Program staffing are not defined by the Government beyond what personal are necessary for the Offeror to effectively execute and manage the contract which should be addressed in the Offerors Organizational chart.
5. Shall possess a current facility clearance.

 Deparetment of State's response to questions is posted with this announcement.  In addition updated solicitation, covering letter, past performance survey and pricing schedule. 

Added: Apr 27, 2017 4:55 pm This is a 100% Small Business Set-Aside. Offers are solicited only from small business concerns. Offers received from concerns that are not small business concerns shall be considered nonresponsive and will be rejected. Any award resulting from this solicitation will be made to a small business concern. The associated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 541930 with a small business size standard of 500 employees.

The United States Department of State's (DOS) Office of Accessibility and Accommodations Division has a regulatory mandate to provide reasonable accessibility and accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities (per Rehabilitation Act of 1973). The Contractor shall provide interpreter employees or designees who hold active generalist certifications through the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. (i.e. RID- MCSC, CSC, CI/CT; RID-CI/CT; NIC-M; NIC-A; NIC or NAD-V); to provide American Sign Language (ASL) to English interpreting and transliteration services and general support services as described herein for deaf Government employees posted to the United States of America domestic and/or international locations or to domestic or international locations temporarily duty (TDY). Such services will be provided in the United States of America and/or international locations as required.

The Contractor shall provide employees or designees who are qualified Communication Access Real-time Translation (CART) transcriptionists CART service providers will be Certified CART Providers (CCP) through the National Court Reporters Association.

The Contractor's employee or designated assignee (on the roster) shall provide interpreting or CART services for any and all unclassified discussions in non-secured areas. The Contractor's employee or designated assignee (on the roster) shall interpret and/or transliterate or provide CART services for any and all classified discussions in secured areas.

The Contractor shall provide classified and unclassified interpreter and CART services for DOS Government employees posted to the United States of America domestic and/or international locations or to domestic or international locations temporarily duty (TDY).. The contractor shall have the ability to provide video relay services and other new technologies.

All announcements and amendments made to the solicitation will be posted . The Department of State will accept questions by e-mail at stewartj@state.gov. Written questions relating to this RFP will be accepted through 2:00 P.M. Eastern time (in effect when questions are due) on May 10, 2017. No questions received after that date will be answered unless the Government determines the answer to the question imparts information material to Offerors' ability to respond to the RFP. Government Responses to questions will be made available to all Offerors.

The Department of State does not plan to hold a pre-proposal conference for prospective offerors. If after review of questions submitted by offerors, the Department of State believes a pre-proposal conference is necessary, one will be scheduled and all prospective offerors will be advised. All prospective contractors must be registered in the Central Contractors Registry (CCR) in order to be eligible for award.