Inactive

UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR GLOBAL MEDIA Robert E. Kamosa Transmitting Station Operation and Maintenance Services Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI) Pre-Solicitation Notice: USAGM Solicitat... UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR GLOBAL MEDIA Robert E. Kamosa Transmitting Station Operation and Maintenance Services Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI) Pre-Solicitation Notice: USAGM Solicitation No. 951700-21-R-0012 INTRODUCTION This is a Pre-Solicitation Notice including 1) notice of a Site Visit scheduled for the week of May 24, through May 28, 2021, and 2) a Synopsis of the requirement. This notice is prepared in accordance with FAR 15.201 as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes a pre-solicitation synopsis, and is NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS. It is a tool being used to inform the market of an upcoming solicitation prior to issuance of a Request for Proposals, and to provide potential offerors the opportunity to participate in the Site Visit. The RFP will be posted on beta.SAM on or about May 14, 2021. The solicitation number is 951700-21-R-0012 and will be issued as a Request for Proposal (RFP). ACQUISITION AUTHORITY This acquisition will be conducted under the authority of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 15 - Contracting by Negotiation and FAR Part 12 - Acquisition of Commercial Items. The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2021-05; dated 03/10/2021. NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS) CODE The procurement is classified under NAICS code 561210 – Facilities Support Services. Size Standard $41.5 Million. PRODUCT SERVICE CODE (PSC) The Product Service Code for this procurement is R426 – Support - Professional: Communications ACQUISITION STATUS This is a full and open competitive acquisition, with no set aside. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE The base period of performance for this requirement is estimated to be performed from July 12, 2021 through April 11, 2022. A nine month base period with four (4) option periods of twelve months each is contemplated. CONTRACT TYPE The U.S. Government intends to award a firm-fixed-price (FFP) commercial contract resulting the upcoming solicitation. SITE VISIT: FAR 52.237-1 SITE VISIT (APR 1984) The USAGM anticipates a site visit if the current situation involving the Coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) allows. (a) Offerors are urged and expected to inspect the site where services are to be performed and to satisfy themselves regarding all general and local conditions that may affect the cost of contract performance, to the extent that the information is reasonably obtainable. With the availability of engineering and facility documentation at the REKTS transmitting facilities and due to the complex Operations and Maintenance (O&M) requirements at the REKTS transmitting facilities, Offerors are strongly encouraged to conduct a site visit at the REKTS transmitting facilities before submitting a proposal. The site visit may occur between May 24, 2021 and May 28, 2021. Due to current COVID-19 Pandemic, Offerors must plan and coordinate travel in accordance with the CNMI guidance. Details concerning local policies may be found at the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation website: https://chcc.gov.mp/coronavirusinformation.php. To minimize the risk of site access difficulties, Offerors are advised to coordinate all site visits at least two weeks in advance. The point of contact in Saipan/Tinian is Mr. Mica F. Cochran at (670) 233-1624 (Saipan Office), (670) 484-7050 (Saipan Cellphone), (670) 234-5080 (Tinian Office), (670) 989-4223 (Tinian Cellphone), or via email: Mcochran@usagm.gov. In no event shall failure to inspect the site constitute grounds for a claim after contract award. (b) All site visits are entirely at the Offeror’s own expense. In no event shall any Offeror’s failure to inspect the site constitute grounds for any claims after contract award. The opportunity for interested Offerors to submit questions to be answered by the Government will be part of the formal solicitation process after posting of the RFP, as such there will not be separate questions and answers after the site visit. SYNOPSIS OF REQUIREMENT The U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) requires a Contractor to operate and maintain the Robert E. Kamosa Transmitting Station (REKTS) Facilities. The Contractor shall be required to provide a qualified staff that shall be capable of completing any and all of the labor tasks outlined in this document. These are U. S. Government radio transmitting plants located on the island of Tinian and the island of Saipan, in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). These facilities, hereafter referred to as the Tinian Transmitter Plant and the Saipan Transmitter Plant, shall be operated in accordance with the policies and procedures established by the USAGM Office of Technology, Services and Innovation. These policies and procedures are delineated in a set of publications identified as Transmitter Station Instructions (TSIs’). The Tinian and Saipan Transmitter Plants scheduled program broadcasts are operated in a non-automated broadcast mode during normal working hours. After hours, weekends, and holidays, both sites may be remotely operated via laptop by the duty transmitter technician or one site may monitor the other from the Master Control Rooms at either Saipan or Tinian. The Contractor is responsible for maintaining an operable transmitting facility to accommodate the US Government produced broadcasting or sponsored radio programming in accordance with the procedures set forth in the Transmitting Station Instructions (TSIs) and the transmission schedule established by the USAGM Office of Technology, Services and Innovation. The Contractor is expected to maintain an operable transmitting facility with an average availability of 99.5%. This means that 99.5% of the scheduled programming is successfully broadcasted. The Contractor shall provide a final Facilities Maintenance Plan within thirty (30) days of contract award to the Contracting Officer and Contracting Specialist. This should be consistent with all deliverables. The plan shall identify the proposed approach to preventive and corrective maintenance of the power plants, administration and transmitter building, security guard facility, security gate, grounds, building and grounds facility, and other elements of the physical plant including any of the broadcast equipment and antenna infrastructure. The antenna infrastructure preventive and corrective maintenance shall include, but not be limited to, antenna, antenna support structure, transmission line, and antenna tower corrosion control maintenance and repair. Corrosion control includes the maintenance and repair of the antenna tower structure surface rust, which requires chemical conversion of surface rust before the top epoxy or equivalent coatings are applied. The Contractor shall be responsible for the overall maintenance, repair work and general upkeep of the Saipan and Tinian Transmitter Plants. This shall include, but not be limited to, general buildings and grounds maintenance and repair, antenna, transmission line, and antenna tower corrosion control. Corrosion control includes the maintenance and repair of the antenna tower structure surface rust, which requires chemical conversion of surface rust before the top epoxy or equivalent coatings are applied. Seasonal typhoons impacting CNMI have routinely reached wind speeds well beyond tower design limits. Even tropical disturbances and tropical storm force winds may cause towers to sway. These seasonal winds and typhoons have torqued and swayed all towers in CNMI. With every torque and sway created by high winds, paint on tower structures, cross members, platforms, ladders, bolts, and other miscellaneous parts have cracked. Seasonal rain, in addition to salt particulates blown about by typhoon force winds, is introduced into the aforementioned paint cracks. The rain and salt particulates that make it into these cracks evaporate very slowly and are often replaced by the next seasonal rain. The Contractor shall be responsible for preventive maintenance and repair of transmitters, power generating equipment, satellite ground station equipment, computers, and all other equipment in the broadcast chain. Maintenance and repair activities shall be performed in accordance with the requirements established by the TSIs. If a conflict between the TSI and manufacturer manual occurs, the TSI takes precedence. The Contractor shall take appropriate actions to maintain the grounds, including but not limited to, lawn mowing, grass trimming (around structures, sidewalks and fences), irrigation, general landscaping and vegetation control, road/parking lot maintenance and repair, fence repair, painting, animal and insect infestation control, and spot repairs encountered during daily operations to buildings and structures. The Contractor shall exercise reasonable care in the use of all GFE and shall follow standard industry maintenance practices. This is to avoid work slowdowns or work stoppage caused by neglected care of GFE equipment and will not be tolerated by the Government. The Contractor shall be liable for any damage resulting from loss, damage, destruction, theft negligence, misuse, or improper maintenance of GFE. The contractor shall be expected to provide substitute equipment, at their expense, if the care of any of the GFE assets are determined by the Government to be neglected and therefore, rendered unusable. The Government will supply an initial component of spare parts, building and ground supplies, and administrative office supplies necessary to operate the Saipan and Tinian Transmitter Plants. Before contract award, the Government will conduct an inventory to ensure that the parts and supply inventories to operate the Saipan and Tinian Transmitter Plants are at adequate levels. The Saipan and Tinian stations are configured for automated operations that may be monitored and controlled by duty transmitter technicians via laptop. Due to this remote control and monitoring capability, there is no requirement for the Contractor to provide operations staff at the Saipan and Tinian stations 24 hours/day, 7 days/week. However, the Contractor must develop a clear strategy to rapidly respond to any failure in the broadcast chain in order to quickly restore transmissions and minimize lost broadcast time. The Contractor shall develop a simple notification process to notify the key Contractor personnel of broadcast failures that may occur at any time, 24 hours a day. When so notified, the Contractor shall then quickly mobilize operations and maintenance staff to report to the station, correct the fault and rapidly restore programmed broadcasts. The Contractor shall assign only qualified personnel to perform the various tasks required to successfully operate and maintain the Saipan Transmitter Plant and the Tinian Transmitter Plant. Currently, there are forty-five (45) contract employees supporting the REKTS facilities. There are sixteen (16) contractor employees at the Saipan Transmitter Plant and twenty-nine (29) contractor employees at the Tinian Transmitter Plant. A recommended staffing pattern of forty-six (46) contract employees (including security) will be the targeted number of total employees. THIS IS A SYNOPSIS ONLY, THE ABOVE DESCRIPTION IS FOR THE PURPOSE OF GENERAL INFORMATION ONLY AND IS NOT INTENDED TO DESCRIBE EVERY FEATURE OR ITEM OF WORK OR TO DEFINE THE SCOPE OF WORK, THE ANTICIPATED RFP WILL CONTAIN FULL DETAILS OF THE REQUIREMENT. ALL POTENTIAL OFFERORS ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SITE VISIT TO WITNESS THE SITE CONDITIONS. RESPONSE TO THIS PRE-SOLICITATION NOTICE Other than responding to the instructions provided in this notice by potential Offerors who plan to attend the Site Visit, no formal response to this pre-solicitation notice is required. The RFP will be made available electronically via the beta.SAM website (https://beta.sam.gov/) on or about May 14, 2021. It is the Offerors responsibility to monitor the beta.SAM website for the release of the solicitation and any amendments that may be issued. This notice does not commit the Government to award a contract.