Domestic Video Teleconference Facilites and Services

SEE ATTACHED RFQ AND ATTACHMENTS
This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation.
Proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-75. This Request for Quote (RFQ) number RRB19Q0022 is issued to request proposals for a Contract or an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) for Domestic Video Teleconferencing Facilities and Services. Please see the attached RFQ document for the Statement of Work (SOW), Clauses and Provisions, Quotation Submission instructions, and Quotation Evaluation and Award information. This RFQ is issued as unrestricted. Section I - Introduction
INTRODUCTION
A. Agency Information: The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) is an independent federal agency that administers a retirement and survivor benefit program for railroad employees and their families. The RRB was established by the Railroad Retirement Acts of 1937 and 1974. Its benefit program was the forerunner of the more familiar social security system. The Railroad Retirement System is unique inasmuch as it is the only federally administered benefit program covering a single private industry. The RRB also administers the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act which provides unemployment and sickness benefits to railroad employees. The RRB is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
B. Objective: The RRB's Bureau of Hearings and Appeals requires nationwide video teleconferencing (VTC) services for the RRB to conduct hearings. The RRB intends to award a single indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity agreement or purchase order to an offeror who can provide the nationwide services, along with a facility, to the RRB. The RRB requires the vendor to have many VTC locations throughout the 50 states to enable the RRB claimants to travel a minimal distance to the vendor's sites. The RRB historically has used approximately 85 hours per year on held VTC services.
C. Testing of Network Compatibility - Offerors should set up a test call with the RRB to ensure network and system compatibility and to become fully informed as to the extent and technical requirements of the work required. Offerors shall determine any technical issues/conditions which would affect the work before submitting an offer. The RRB strongly encourages offerors to perform system testing before submitting an offer. No allowances will be made for failure of the offerors to avail themselves of testing the Network Compatibility. To schedule a network compatibility test, please contact Ms. Rachel Simmons at 312-751-4946, or Rachel.Simmons@rrb.gov between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding Federal Holidays. All technical network testing must be scheduled and completed by close of business Wednesday, July 24th, 2019. The offeror will be responsible for all costs related to any technical testing with the RRB's existing video conference suite located in Chicago, Illinois.
D. Questions pertaining to technical aspects of this Procurement must be submitted no later than 3:00 pm CDT, Monday, July 15, 2019. All questions must be sent by email to: proposals@rrb.gov . The RRB will not furnish technical information over the phone or in person.
E. Place and hours of Performance: The services performed for this contract shall be at any combination of the potential vendor's nationwide locations. The RRB generally uses VTC services between 9:00 am Central Time and 3:00 pm Central time. Times vary based on the local time, and availability of key personnel.
Section II Pricing: Offerors shall provide a "fully-loaded" firm fixed prices (FFP) or FFP time based rates (FFPR) in the pricing schedule of the attached solicitation to provide the services as described in the Statement of Work (SOW) in Section III.
Section III STATEMENT OF WORK - DOMESTIC VIDEO-TELECONFERENCING FACILITY SERVICES.
A. BACKGROUND INFORMATION
1. The RRB has a recurring need to use VTC services as it is more cost effective than sending RRB hearing officers to each claimant's physical location. A nationwide network of VTC centers is being sought to keep the RRB's travel expenses at the lowest level possible.
2. The RRB is seeking a long-term (basic plus four option years) agreement with VTC services that can provide the RRB with as many nationwide video-teleconferencing locations as possible.
3. The RRB, at it's Chicago, IL headquarters, currently uses a Polycom HDX 7000 HD system; serial number 881132111A49CN; I.P. address 63.150.23.2 for conducting hearings via videoconference. The RRB has a T1 data line to the internet for this equipment to conduct VTC calls.
4. The RRB defines a VTC call as one that everyone can see and hear each other throughout the entire call with no transmission errors. Delays of a short nature, 15 minutes or less, are acceptable, however, if the delays are of such a nature that the call/hearing must be rescheduled, the RRB shall deem the entire call as failed, and the contractor shall not bill the RRB for services.
B. REQUIREMENTS:
1. The RRB plans to choose a single contractor for the services. The contractor may sub-contract out additional locations,
but the terms and pricing MUST be the same across ALL the vendor's locations. Please note: This is not a requirements contract.
2. During the video teleconference the RRB may discuss issues that contain Personal Identifiable Information (PII) and Individually Identifiable Health Information (IIHI). The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued the Privacy Rule to implement the requirement of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The Privacy Rule standards address the use and disclosure of individuals' health information-called "protected health information" by organizations subject to the Privacy Rule - called "covered entities," as well as standards for individuals' privacy rights to understand and control how their health information is used. Within HHS, the Office for Civil Rights ("OCR") has responsibility for implementing and enforcing the Privacy Rule with respect to voluntary compliance activities and civil money penalties. Because of the need for privacy, the RRB MUST have a room to hold the video teleconference that will protect the privacy of the information discussed during the video teleconference.
3. Since holidays vary across the United States, the contractor shall notify the RRB that the date the RRB is inquiring about is a holiday at that VTF facility. The contractor shall offer another location to the RRB, or work to re-schedule to a non-holiday, if possible.
4. The RRB seeks an all-inclusive firm-fixed price for the video-teleconference room and the call with a minimum charge of one hour and then 15 minute increments thereafter. The RRB shall be allowed to test the transmission to the vendor's, vendor's partner, or sub-contractor's site at least one business day prior to the date of the video teleconference at no charge to the RRB. The RRB also expects help/support to be immediately available from the potential contractor by telephone should any call have technical issues. If contacted by email, a two (2) hour or less response time.
The RRB's normal business hours are 6:00 a.m. through 6:30 p.m., Central Time, Monday through Friday, excluding Federal Holidays.
5. In the rare instances where the RRB attempts to get service in a location and the vendor notifies the RRB that it cannot provide service anywhere within a 75 mile radius from the claimant's home in an urban area or a 150 mile radius from the claimant's home in a rural area, the RRB shall seek services elsewhere. If the contractor knows of a vendor that will supply service, the RRB may, or may not use the service from that third party provider, however, the contractor shall not bill the RRB for the recommendation. If the contractor is able to timely sub-contract the services for the RRB's desired service location, the RRB shall order those services from the contractor, paying only the rates as specified the Contract Prices Section.
The Offeror's VTC services facility locations should be at the closest possible locations to the RRB field offices shown in Attachment A.
6. The RRB shall ONLY make payments to the contractor. The RRB shall not make any payments directly to any of the contractor's sub-contractors.
7. If the RRB chooses to upgrade its video teleconference equipment in the future, the RRB shall communicate with the contractor before it decides which equipment to purchase. The RRB expects the vendor to advise the RRB of any and all equipment that will work with the contractor's video teleconferencing system at no extra cost to the RRB. If the RRB purchases new video teleconferencing equipment without checking with the contractor for compatibility, it will do so at its own risk that the equipment may, or may not work in conjunction with the contractor's system.
8. The contractor shall provide to the RRB an updated list of its video teleconferencing locations that are available for use by the RRB no less than every three months (or quarter).
9. The RRB expects help/support from the contractor should any VTC call have technical issues. The time billed shall not include any time spent troubleshooting/repairing a contractor issue.
10. The RRB cancels a scheduled call at least 24 hours before the scheduled start of the call, the contractor shall not charge a cancellation fee to the RRB.
11. The RRB shall be allowed to test the transmission to the vendor's, vendor's partner, or sub-contractor's site at least one business day prior to the date of the scheduled VTC at no charge to the RRB.
12. The Contractor shall enable and allow the RRB to make the video teleconference connection approximately 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. The start time for billing purposes shall be the scheduled start time, not the time the connection was made prior to the start time.
13.If a connection is lost during a scheduled VTC call, and attempts to reconnect are unsuccessful, the contractor's technical contact(s) will be contacted to let them know the connection was lost, and request they check if it is problem on the contractor's end. If the problems are on the contractor's end, the RRB shall not be responsible for any VTC charges, if the problem is with both the contractor's and RRB's systems, or just the RRB system, the RRB shall be responsible for only the time used (not what was scheduled) where the connection was working. The VTC would then be cancelled, and the contractor shall be expected to make every attempt to assist the RRB in rescheduling a new VTC call supporting the hearing.
14. The contractor will not charge and the RRB will not accept any surcharges for any location. There shall be only the FFP's or FFPR's as listed in Section II. This includes, but is not limited to, water, food, note taking materials, etc.
This requirement is for charging the Government only. This in no way restricts the contractor from selling direct to any individual.
C. ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:
The RRB will NOT consider the ability to use home computers with webcam and microphone as an option to the nationwide VTC services as it already utilizes them.
To ensure PRIVACY, the RRB MUST have a room to hold the video teleconference that will protect the privacy of the information discussed during the video teleconference.
To be complaint with the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA) the agency must have security controls in place to ensure that Pll is protected. The requirement in Section 111.B.2 reads: During the video teleconference the RRB may discuss issues that contain Personal Identifiable Information (Pll) and Individually Identifiable Health Information (llHI). The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued the Privacy Rule to implement the requirement of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The Privacy Rule standards address the use and disclosure of individuals' health information-called "protected health information" by organizations subject to the Privacy Rule - called "covered entities," as well as standards for individuals' privacy rights to understand and control how their health information is used. Within HHS, the Office for Civil Rights ("OCR") has responsibility for implementing and enforcing the Privacy Rule with respect to voluntary compliance activities and civil money penalties. Because of the need for privacy, the RRB MUST have a room to hold the video teleconference that will protect the privacy of the information discussed during the video teleconference.
AGAIN, the RRB has software and equipment to do VTC calls. This solicitation is seeking VTC FACILITIES and the VTC SERVICES.
ANY OFFER RECEIVED THAT INCLUDES SERVICES NOT AS DESCRIBED ABOVE, SHALL BE DETERMINED NON-COLMPLIANT AND SHALL NOT BE EVALUATED.
Section IV: General Terms and Conditions: See the attached solicitation for all clauses and provisions. Section V: SUBMISSION OF QUOTATIONS/PROPOSALS A. RRB Supplemental Instructions to Offerors 1. Offerors shall submit their offers in accordance with FAR 52.212-1, incorporated by reference, and shall do so in writing or electronically in two sections: Business/Price and Technical. If choosing to submit an offer solely in writing, Offerors shall submit response to this solicitation to the address shown in Block 9 of the Standard Form 1449 (SF-1449). If choosing to submit an offer electronically, Offerors shall submit responses to this solicitation to: proposals@rrb.gov. Emails shall be clearly labeled with the solicitation number and Vendor's name and the attached files shall be named with the solicitation number and the Vendor's name. 2. Offerors shall submit electronic offers to be received by the RRB by 11:00am Central Time on Wednesday, July 31st. 3. Any further questions regarding this RFQ must be submitted to the RRB by 3:00 PM Central time on Monday, July 15th, 2019. All questions must be sent by email to proposals@rrb.gov . The RRB will not furnish technical information over the phone or in person. 4. The Government intends to award a contract or agreement resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. Offers shall be evaluated on a technical to price ratio of 1:1. The evaluated technical factors listed below in Section V.B.4.a.1, 2, and 3 are MANDATORY submissions. The RRB reserves the right to reject any proposal as nonresponsive that is silent on these requirements. 5. THE PROPOSAL SHALL INCLUDE: a. Technical proposal in three hard copies (unless submitted electronically) consisting of their technical proposal with sections separated as described below. The technical proposal shall include the description of services being offered in sufficient detail to evaluate compliance with the requirements and the evaluated technical factors of the solicitation. The Offeror shall fully and clearly address each mandatory technical and evaluated factor so that the RRB's Technical Evaluation Team can identify and comprehend the capability and resources the Offeror intends to bring to this procurement. The technical proposal shall provide complete and detailed information to substantiate the Offeror's ability to satisfy the mandatory requirements in Section III. All mandatory requirements shall be met for an Offeror to be considered responsive. Complete and detailed technical information shall be provided to facilitate scoring of the following evaluated technical factors. 1. Services Management Approach - (Mandatory Submission) See solicitation. ii. Risk Management Plan See solicitation. iii. Quality Control Plan See solicitation Note: The use and management of any subcontractor(s) services, including VTC locations, shall be fully disclosed by the Offeror, along with evaluation of the sub-contractors past performance - only if applicable. 2. Past Performance (Mandatory Submission) - The Offeror shall submit, as part of its proposal, a minimum of three (3) previously performed or ongoing contracts that are similar to the Statement of Work in this solicitation performed for the Federal, State, or local Government and/or for commercial firms. Information shall be provided from such contracts within the past 24 months. The references shall be limited to the name and address of the organization for which the services were performed and the phone numbers of at least two knowledgeable technical contacts for each reference listed. The Offeror should not describe past performance history in the proposal. The vendor shall inform the RRB if ANY part of the work shall be sub-contracted. If so, the Offeror shall include the past performance references for all sub-contractors it plans to use with its submission. 3. Quantity of Video teleconference locations for use by the RRB. (Including any 3rd party contractors or sub-contractors) - (Mandatory Submission) The Offeror shall provide a detailed description, including location, name, address, city, state, and zip code, along with the number of available VTC suites at each given DOMESTIC locations that the RRB may use to conduct its video teleconferences. b. Business proposal in two original copies consisting of: 1) Standard Form (SF) 1449 in two originals with blocks 12, 17a & b, 30a, b and c completed. 2) Contractor's firm-fixed prices, or firm fixed priced hourly rates for SLINs as specified in Section II. 3) Contractor's business information as outlined in Section II.B. above. 4) One (1) electronic copy of the Contractor's Representations and Certifications from site www.orca.gov (if applicable) 5) Copy of the Offeror's GSA Contract for these services. (If applicable) 6) Offerors are encouraged to submit multiple offer(s) which provides for the requirements of this solicitation. The alternative offer must meet and or exceed the mandatory requirements of this solicitation. Each submitted proposal will be evaluated separately on a best value basis as outlined in Section VI. 6. The vendor may have more offerings than the RRB has listed in Section II. The Vendor, may, if it chooses, offer these services to the RRB at a firm-fixed price in the SLINs. The additional offerings shall not affect either the technical, or price scoring. 7. The RRB shall not award any contract or agreement to a vendor who is NOT registered and NOT actively keeping their SAM registration current. The RRB encourages all vendors to ensure that they are registered and that their SAM registration is current before making an offer. See www.sam.gov for instructions on how to register in SAM, and www.fsd.gov , for any questions or help in registering in SAM. Again, no agreement shall be awarded to a vendor who is not registered and active in SAM. (See Section II.B. on page 10.) Section VI. Evaluation and Award A. In compliance with FAR clause 52.212-2, Evaluation of Offers & Commercial Items, incorporated by reference, the RRB intends to award an ordering agreement to the responsible offeror whose submission (resulting from this solicitation) provides the best value to the RRB based on price and other factors including; implementation plan, past performance, maintenance plan, equipment offered, and other value-added characteristics that would be advantageous to the RRB. See solicitation. Please note: The multipliers are used for evaluation purposes ONLY. In no way shall the contractor assume the RRB is guaranteeing a minimum amount of VTC services usage. 1. The Government will evaluate Offeror's Total Evaluated Price (TEP) proposal as the sum of the offered prices in CLINs (0001AA*75) + (0001AB*40) + (0001AC*5) + (0001AD*2) + (0001AE*2) + (0002AA*75) + (0002AB*40) + (0002AC*5) + (0002AD*2) + (0002AE*2) + (0003AA*75) + (0003AB*40) + (0003AC*5) + (0003AD*2) + (0003AE*2) + (0004AA*75) + (0004AB*40) + (0004AC*5) + (0004AD*2) + (0004AE*2) + (0005AA*75) +(0005AB*40) + (0005AC*5) + (0005AD*2) + (0005AE*2). The TEP shall equal the sum of the above products of SLIN unit prices times the listed quantities. 2. Scoring the TEP: RRB will score the Offeror's total evaluated price (TEP) as follows: Calculation of the price score (100 possible points) will be computed by multiplying the maximum point score available (100) by a fraction representing the ratio of the lowest total evaluated price of all technically acceptable responsive offers received (numerator) by the RRB to the total evaluated price of the offer being evaluated (denominator) . Price Score = (100) * (lowest TEP / Evaluated Offeror TEP) 3. Any Offeror not proposing a firm fixed price, or firm fixed hourly rates (as appropiate) in CLIN 0001AA, 0001AB, 0001AC, 0001AD, 0001AE, 0002AA, 0002AB 0002AC, 0002AD, 0002AE, 0003AA, 0003AB, 0003AC, 0003AD, 0003AE, 0004AA, 0004AB, 0004AC, 0004AD, 0004AE, 0005AA, 0005AB, 0005AC, 0005AD, 0005AE, and/or not being able to perform all the required elements in the SOW as described in Section III will be considered non-responsive to the solicitation and shall not be further evaluated. D. The Government reserves the right to evaluate offerors and award a contract without discussion. Therefore, the initial offer should contain the offeror's best terms from both a price and plan/experience/past performance standpoint. E. A written notice of award or acceptance of an offer mailed or otherwise furnished to the successful offeror within the time for acceptance specified in the offer, shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party. Before the offer's specified expiration time, the Government may accept an offer (or part of an offer), whether or not there are negotiations after its receipt, unless a written notice of withdrawal is received before award. Section VII Attachments: See Attachments A and B.
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