Inactive Total Small Business Set-Aside (FAR 19.5)

(i) THIS IS A COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION FOR A COMMERCIAL ITEM PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FORMAT IN SUBPART 12.6, AND SUBPART 13 AS SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS N... (i) THIS IS A COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION FOR A COMMERCIAL ITEM PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FORMAT IN SUBPART 12.6, AND SUBPART 13 AS SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION, HEREIN FORMAL PROPOSAL REQUEST. (ii) Request for Proposal No. 951700-22-R-0013, Translation Interpretation for International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB), Office of Performance Review (OPR), is issued as a Request for Proposal (RFP) with the intent to award a single Blanket Purchase Agreement using simplified acquisition procedures in FAR Part 13 Subpart 13.303, Blanket Purchase Agreements. Multiple Award(s) will be considered for this requirement at the discretion of the Government. iii) This RFP documents and incorporates provisions and clauses that are in effect from the Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2022-04, dated effective January 26, 2022. (iv) This is 100% total small business set-aside. The North American Industry Classification Systems (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 541930 with a small business size standard of $ 8.0 M. (v) Contract Line item number(s) and items, Combination of Transcription and Translation Rates (See Attachment B, Price Schedule). The contractor shall provide a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) rate per foreign language in Attachment B, for the base period and each of four (4) option periods. (vi) The United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), Office of Contracts (CON) located in Washington, D.C., anticipates establishing Non-Personal Services Blanket Purchase Agreements with an Independent Contractor to provide transcription and translations of multiple and various foreign language media products, required by the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) Office of Performance Review (OPR), in support of scheduled program reviews, spot-checks, and qualitative inquiries involving content produced by any of the U.S. International Media services under the USAGM umbrella. The Contractor shall furnish all personnel, equipment, materials, supplies, services, and otherwise do all things necessary to perform requirements in accordance with Attachment C, Statement of Work (SOW). (vii) Place of Performance: Multiple locations within and outside the Continental United States. Contractor may perform the above work at any location that is mutually agreeable to the Contracting Officer, using digital files exchanged electronically through e-mail, web sites, and/or FTP. (viii) The period of performance is one (1) year from date of award, with the option to exercise 4-one year options. The total period of performance is not-to exceed 5 years. a. Submission of Offers: Submit signed and dated offers to the office specified in this RFP at or before the exact time specified in this RFP. Offers may be submitted on letterhead stationery, or as otherwise specified in the RFP. As a minimum, offers must show- (1) The RFP number (2) The time specified in the RFP for receipt of offers (3) The name, address, and telephone number of the Offeror (4) A technical description of the services being offered in sufficient detail to evaluate compliance with the requirements in the RFP. (ix) Instruction to Offerors The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provision FAR 52.212-1 Instruction to Offerors-Commercial Items, applies to this Request for Proposals. FAR provisions and clauses may be obtained from the Internet Web address at: http://acquisition.gov/farlindexhtml. Interested contractors who are capable of providing the required services should submit a proposal identifying capabilities as noted below. The contractor shall demonstrate the ability and experience in providing the required services. Submit signed and dated offers/proposals to the office specified in this Combined Synopsis/Solicitation at or before the exact time specified in this solicitation. Offerors/proposal(s) shall include but are not be limited to: (a). Offerors shall submit their firm fixed labor rates in accordance with the Attachment B., Price Schedule. Prices for all of the listed CLINs shall be noted in English and United States dollars. (b). Offeror Qualifications (Technical) The Offeror shall provide a company technical proposal that includes the following: (i) Number of translators/linguists available; (ii) List of languages translated, including regional dialects (indicate any particular regional or linquistic strengths); (iii) Estimated turnaround time for a 30-minute audio/video file; (iv) Years in business; (v) Certifications by recognized professional translator organizations, (e.g., American Translators Association (ATA), National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators (NAJIT) (c) Past Performance - The Offeror is required to provide no more than three (3) references from previous Customers for same or similar services to the requirement. Offeerors shall provide the three (3) references with the following information: (i) reference's name and address, email and telephone number of contact person; (ii) dollar amount of the contract; (iii) term of the contract; and (iv) brief description of the work performed. Pursuant to FAR 15.305(a) (2) (v), in the case of an Offeror without a record of relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not available, the Offeror may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance, and when combined, technical evaluation factors are significantly more important than cost/price. (x) 52.212-2 Evaluation - Commercial Items, Evaluation -- Commercial Items (Jan 1999) (a) The Government will award a Commercial Items, Firm-Fixed-Price, Non-Personal Services Blanket Purchase Agreement resulting from this RFP to the responsible Offeror whose offer conforming to the RFP will be most advantageous to the Government, based on past performance, technical, and price in the quote. When combined, technical evaluation factors are significantly more important than cost/price. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers: (xi) EVALUATION FACTORS Used to determine the competitive ranking of qualified applicants in comparison to other applicants. The factors are listed in priority order from highest to least. The Government will award a Commercial Items, Firm-Fixed-Price, Non-Personal services Blanket Purchase Agreement(s) resulting from this RFQ to the responsible Offeror whose offer conforming to the RFQ will be most advantageous to the Government, based the following evaluation factors: 1) Availability and Capability of Experienced, Native-Speaking Linguists 2) Responsiveness to Requests and Inquiries (Turnaround time) 3) Price - A Separate Price Proposal showing a price breakdown by language to support the requirements in the SOW must be submitted. The Price Proposal must be in the format as specified in Attachment B, Price Schedule. Price should be given for each language as follows: A. Price per minute for transcription and translation (audio or video); and B. Price per thousand words of translation (text only). The prices shall be provided in English and United States dollars. and 4) Structured Quality Control Process 5) Past Performance - *Note: The Offeror is required to provide no more than three (3) references from previous customers for same or similar services to the requirement. Offerors shall provide the three (3) references with the following information on Attachment D, Past Performance: (i) reference's name and address, email and telephone number of contact person; (ii) dollar amount of the contract; (iii) term of the contract; and (iv) brief description of the work performed. The Offeror must submit a written Technical Proposal that includes a summary of the Offeror's company experience and that includes the following: Number of translators/linguists available; (ii) List of languages translated, including regional dialects (indicate any particular regional or linguistic strengths); (iii) Estimated turnaround time for a 30-minute audio/video file; (iv) Years in business; (v) Certifications by recognized professional translator organizations, (e.g., American Translators Association (ATA), National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators (NAJIT) (xii) Offeror Representations and Certifications - Commercial Items FAR Subpart 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications - Commercial Items. Offerors shall include a completed copy of the provisions at FAR Subpart 52.212-3 (Offeror Representations and Certifications - Commercial Items) with its offer. This provision can be found at the following website https://www.acquisition.gov/Far/; if requested by an Offeror, a copy of FAR subpart 52.212-3 can be obtained by contacting the Contracting Officer. Prospective Offerors must be registered on the System for Award Management (SAM) website at www.sam.gov prior to award, during performance and through final payment of any contract resulting from this solicitation. If the Offeror does not become registered in the SAM database in the time prescribed by the Contracting Officer, the Contracting Officer will proceed to award to the next otherwise successful registered Offeror. Offerors may obtain information on registration and annual confirmation requirements via the SAM database accessed through https://www.acquisition.gov. Please provide contractor's DUNS Number, prompt payment terms, and correct remittance address, if different from mailing address. (xiii) The FAR clause 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items applies to this acquisition with addendum to the clause. The addendum is as follows: CONTRACTING OFFICER REPRESENTATIVE: The Contracting Officer will appoint by letter, a Contracting Officer Representative (COR) who will have the responsibility of ensuring that the work conforms to the requirements of the contract and such other responsibilities and authorities as may be specified in the letter of authorization or this purchase order. It is understood and agreed, in particular, that the COR shall not have authority to make changes in the scope or terms and conditions of the contract unless and only to the extent that such authority is specified in the letter of authorization or the contract. The resultant contractor is hereby forewarned that absent the requisite authority of the COR to make any such changes, it may be held fully responsible for any changes not authorized in advance, in writing, by the contracting officer may be denied compensation or other relief for any additional work performed that is not so authorized, and may also be required, at no additional cost to .the government, to take all corrective action necessitated by reason of the unauthorized changes. (end of clause) (xiv) FAR clause 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items, applies to this solicitation by reference and proposed subsequent contract as well as the following clauses contained within FAR clause 52.212-5: 52.204-10 - Reporting Executive compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards; 52219-6 - Notice of Total Small Business Set (15 U.S.C. 644); 52219-8 - Utilization of Small Business Concerns; 52.219-28 - Post Award Small Business Program Representation; 52.222-3 - Convict Labor, 52.222-19 - Child Labor-Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies; 52222-21 - Prohibition of Segregated Facilities; 52222-26 - Equal Opportunity (E.O. 11246); 52222-35 - Equal Opportunity for Veterans (38 U.S.C. 4212); 52.222-36 - Affirmative Action for Workers with Disabilities (29 U.S.C. 793); 52.222-37 - Employment Reports on Veterans (38 U.S.C. 4212); 52.222-40 - Notification of Employee Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act; 52.222-50 - Combating Trafficking in Persons; 52.223-18 - Contractor Policy to Ban Text Messaging with Driving; 52.225-13 - Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases and 52.232-33 - Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer-System for Award Management. (xv) Additional FAR provisions and clauses incorporated by reference and applicable to this solicitation and the proposed subsequent contract are: 52.217-8 Option to Extend Services; 52.237-3 - Continuity of Services; and, 52.242-17 - Government Delay of Work. (xvi)A Defense Priorities and Allocations System (DPAS) assigned rating is not applicable to this acquisition. (xvii) Failure to provide any of the above-required RFP may result in the rejection of your proposal. Full text of all FAR clauses and provisions are available electronically at the following Internet address: (http://www.ametgovffar). Proposals shall be in writing and must be signed by an official who is authorized to bind the organization. Oral proposals will not be accepted. (xviii) ALL TECHNICAL AND PRICE PROPOSALS MUST BE SUBMITTED ELECTRONICALLY TO: agray@usagm.gov and chill@usagm.gov BEFORE THE CLOSING DEADLINE BELOW. Request for Proposals are due to Amber Gray, Contracting Specialist, and Jr. Hill via email by: 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (Washington, D.C.) on May 20, 2022. (xix) Contact Amber Gray, Contracting Specialist, email agray@usagm.gov and Jr. Hill, Contracting Officer at chill@usagm.gov. All responsible sources may submit an offer that will be considered by the Agency. Questions must be submitted in writing and only via email to agray@usagm.gov and chill@usagm.gov. Written questions must be submitted before 2:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (Washington, D.C.) on May 9, 2022. (xx) This solicitation incorporates one or more solicitation provisions by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text (see Attachment B, FAR Clauses). 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. Attachments: Attachment B, Price Schedule Attachment C, Statement of Work Attachment D, Past Performance Reference Sheet