SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- Real-Time Captioning
- Notice Date
- 8/8/2002
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Administration, Division of Contracts and Property Management, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD, 20852-2738
- ZIP Code
- 20852-2738
- Solicitation Number
- RS-ASB-02-231
- Response Due
- 8/19/2002
- Point of Contact
- Michael Turner, Contract Specialist, Phone (301) 415-6535, Fax (301) 415-8157, - Heriberto Colon, Contract Specialist, Phone 301-415-7000, Fax 301-415-5761,
- E-Mail Address
-
mat1@nrc.gov, hxc3@nrc.gov
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total Small Business
- Description
- This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. The procedures under FAR Subpart 13.1 are applicable to the solicitation. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION. PROPOSALS ARE BEING REQUESTED AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE ISSUED. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) intends to award a Firm-Fixed Price-Requirements, Delivery Order type contract for services entitled, "Real-Time Captioning," as a result of this solicitation. The North American Industry Classification System Code is 561492 and the small business size standard is $5 Million Dollars. The period of performance will be one (1) year with three (3) one-year option periods. Proposals for this requirement may be submitted by small businesses and small businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. Sealed offers shall be received at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Division of Contracts, ATTN: Michael Turner, RS-ASB-02-231, Mail Stop, T-7I2, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, no later than 3:00 p.m., on August 19, 2002. Offerors shall submit an original and three (3) copies each of the cost and technical proposals. Due to the current mail situation, offerors are encouraged to submit offers via overnight delivery services. BACKGROUND: In keeping with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) mission to protect the public health and safety in the Nuclear Reactor, Materials and Waste arenas, many public meetings, adjudicatory proceedings, and depositions are held as part of the decision making process in licensing nuclear facilities. These activities are an extremely important and closely scrutinized part of the Commission's daily operations. The nature of the services are such that delays, errors and other forms of unsatisfactory or poor performance will jeopardize the interests of the Commission and adversely impact its regulatory review process. The subject matter to be captioned during the meetings is very complex and of a highly technical nature primarily in the field of nuclear reactors and nuclear energy. At Advisory Committee for Reactor Safety meetings, there are frequent changes of speakers and, on many occasions, more than one speaker talking at a time. Some meetings are less technical but equally demanding, often extremely informal, portions of which may be highly sensitive or of a confidential nature. SCOPE OF WORK: The contractor shall provide stenographic-based captioning services for real-time verbatim translation for broadcasting (media streaming) Commission headquarters meetings to the world-wide-web (Internet) and accompanying hard copy transcripts. DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES: (1) Captioning Services: The contractor shall provide the necessary industry standard stenographic equipment, cables, software, computer and personnel trained in stenography with additional specialized training to provide the instant verbatim translation of the spoken word into English text. The contractor shall supply the computer-aided-transcription (CAT) software that is compatible with the NRC PDR885 encoder manufactured by Link, Incorporated. The NRC will provide the RS232 line to feed the text from the contractor's computer to the NRC's encoder. The NRC estimates the use of these services for approximately 30 meetings to be held at the NRC headquarters located at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. Each meeting will be approximately four hours. At the opening and close of each of the Commission meetings, the contractor shall provide the following credit, the substance of which applies to the Contractor's actions as well: Captioning Made Possible by the (insert Contractor's name) in Cooperation with the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Any use of the Captioning Coverage of these meetings for Political or Commercial Purposes is Expressly Prohibited by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. (2) Hard Copy Transcript: The contractor shall furnish a next day hard copy bound transcript which accurately reflects the full and complete transcribed verbatim record, which encompasses a record verbatim of everything spoken or presented during a meeting. The original of the transcript shall be authenticated by an original signature of the Official Reporter reporting the hearing by a certificated page at the end of the transcript that states: This is to certify that the attached proceeding before the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in the matter of: (Name of Meeting) (Place of Proceeding) was held as herein appears, and that this is the original transcript; therefore, the record of the NRC taken by me and thereafter reduced to the written word under the direction of the court reporting company, and that the transcript is a true and accurate record of the foregoing proceeding: /S/ (Signature Typed) Official Reporter Company's Name (3) Electronic Copy Transcript: The contractor shall furnish a compatible electronic version in WordPerfect format via floppy disk or CD which is identical to and delivered with the hard copy transcript when required by the Commission at no additional cost. WORK ORDERS: Orders for services required hereunder will be placed or issued by the Project Officer or his authorized representatives at least 48 hours before the start of a meeting. Work Orders will be electronically generated by the requesting NRC Office and will be e-mailed via the Commission Local Area Network (LAN) to the Project Officer. The work order will be reviewed and confirmed by the Project Officer and forwarded electronically via the World Wide Web (Internet) E-mail Service or by fax machine to a predetermined Contractor address. The Contractor shall review the work order and complete the appropriate acknowledgment and confirmation sections and return the electronic work order to the address of the Project Officer. Work orders submitted by the Commission will state the time, date, place of the meeting, Presiding Officer and/or contact person, the title or subject of the proceeding, the estimated duration, the number of copies of transcripts and/or diskettes required, the delivery schedule, pagination instructions to assure the continuation of pagination when applicable, special delivery and packaging and marking instructions, if any, including names and addresses of recipients for hand or mail delivery and/or Internet E-mail address for direct electronic E-mailing of transcripts to recipients, and the name and phone numbers of the person placing the request with the date and other pertinent information as necessary. Work orders issued during the effective period of this contract and not completed within that time shall be completed by the Contractor within the time specified in the order, and the rights and obligations of the Contractor and the Commission respecting those orders shall be governed by the terms of this contract to the same extent as if completed during the effective period of this contract, provided that the Contractor shall not be required to make deliveries for orders requiring performance beyond ten (10) calendar days after the expiration of the contract, or any extension thereof. PERFORMANCE STANDARDS: The accuracy of the captioning services provided under this contract will be the sole responsibility of the contractor. The contractor will be responsible for maintaining computerized dictionaries of NRC terminology and proper spelling of names. The contractor shall maintain the steno-based captioning services for the Real-time verbatim translation (media streaming) level of accuracy at not less than 98.6 percent accuracy at the average rate between 225 to 250 words per minute. The hard copy bound version of the transcribed record shall provide a 100% record of everything spoken during a session. The 1-day original must be delivered by 12:00 PM the next business day following a meeting unless the meeting begins at 2:00 PM or later in which case, delivery is by 12:00 PM the second business day after the meeting was held. Failure to comply with this standard may be grounds for termination. The contractor shall be responsible for responding promptly to complaints or other notices or advice regarding inaccuracies in capturing the spoken word. REDUCTION SCHEDULE: Failure to make delivery within the times required, furnish transcripts or other services in accordance with the provisions of the contract, or failure to promptly correct deliverables upon notice, and/or correct material deemed by the NRC Project Officer to be illegible or defective will result in a reduction in payment, as follows: If the 1-day delivery is not delivered by 12:00 PM on the next business day (or on the second business day when meetings begin at 2:00 PM or later) payment will be made at the 1-day rate less 10 percent per day, to a maximum reduction of 50 percent of the 1-day rate for each page, as applicable. GOVERNMENT FURNISHED ITEMS: (1) PDR885 encoder manufactured by Link, Incorporated (2) RS232 line. ( 3) List of acronyms The NRC will be responsible for encoding and decoding the data, synchronizing the video and data, and transmitting the signal the Internet provider. The NRC will make the best efforts to provide to the contractor advanced copies of publically available background documents that make contain some of the technical words discussed in the meeting as well as a list of speakers that will assist in the preparation and creation of real-time and accurate captions. PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS - COST: This is a four (4) year contract (base of one year and three (3) one-year options). The offeror shall submit an original and 3 copies of the cost proposal for the entire period of performance (base period and 3 options). The total price shall include the contractor's unit price multiplied by the Government's estimated quantities as follows: BASE PERIOD - CLIN 001-Captioning Services (30 meetings/ 4 hours each) estimated 7200 minutes, CLIN 002 - Original Transcript minutes (30 meetings/4 hours each) estimated 4800 pages; OPTION YEAR ONE - CLIN 003-Captioning Services (30 meetings/ 4 hours each) estimated 7200 minutes, CLIN 004 - Original Transcript minutes (30 meetings/4 hours each) estimated 4800 pages; OPTION YEAR TWO - CLIN 005-Captioning Services (30 meetings/ 4 hours each) estimated 7200 minutes, CLIN 006 -Original Transcript minutes (30 meetings/4 hours each) estimated 4800 pages, OPTION YEAR THREE - CLIN 007-Captioning Services (30 meetings/ 4 hours each) estimated 7200 minutes, CLIN 008 - Original Transcript minutes (30 meetings/4 hours each) estimated 4800 pages. TECHNICAL: The proposal shall not contain any reference to prices. The offeror shall submit full and complete information which will allow the NRC to perform a thorough evaluation and make a sound determination as to whether the offeror will have a reasonable likelihood of meeting the requirements and objectives of this procurement. The proposal shall be fully self-contained, and shall specifically address the technical evaluation factors. To be considered for an award, the proposed price must be realistic and reasonable. Although, price is a factor in the evaluation of the proposals, technical merit in the evaluation criteria set forth below is a more significant factor in the selection of a contract. EVALUATION FACTORS: 1. Technical Experience. Extent to which the proposal demonstrates that the offeror has the related qualification and experience to perform the requirements of this solicitation. Depth and recency of experience will be considered. 2. Past Performance: Offerors shall provide information on prior relevant past performance within the past two years. It to your benefit to make the information you provide as clear as possible to assist the NRC in evaluating your firms ability to perform the requirements in the statement of work. You may include letters of achievement, performance awards, or commendations, references and points of contact, and any past performance ratings that are available. All contact names and phone numbers for those sources serving as references must be accurate and current. The NRC may, but is not required to contact the reference points of contact. All Technical factors are equal when combined and are more important than price in determining the best value to the Government. The NRC intends to evaluate offers and award without discussions with offerors. Therefore, the offeror's initial proposal shall contain the offeror's best terms from a price and technical standpoint. However, the Government reserves the right to conduct discussions if later determined by the CO to be necessary. The Government may reject any or all offers if such action is in the public interest; accept other than the lowest offer; and waive informalities and minor irregularities in offers received. PROVISIONS AND CLAUSES: This solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2001-03. FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items; 52.212-2, Evaluation-Commercial Items; 52.204-6, Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number; 52.219-22, Small Disadvantaged Business Status; 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items; 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items; 52.216-18, Ordering; 52.216-19, Order Limitations; 52.216-21, Requirements, apply to this acquisition. OFFERORS MUST SUBMIT A COMPLETED COPY OF THE PROVISION AT 52.212-3, OFFEROR REPRESENTATIONS AND CERTIFICATIONS- COMMERCIAL ITEMS WITH ITS OFFER. FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition with the following additional clauses: 52.203-6, 52.219-4, 52.219-8, 52.219-23, 52.222-19, 52.222-21, 52.222-26, 52.222-35, 52.222-36, 52.222-37, 52.225-13, and 52.232-33. The full text of the provisions and clauses can be accessed electronically at: http://www.arnet.gov/far.
- Place of Performance
- Address: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852
- Country: US
- Country: US
- Record
- SN00136634-W 20020810/020808214007 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |