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FBO DAILY ISSUE OF JULY 21, 2012 FBO #3892
SOLICITATION NOTICE

D -- Learning Management System (Hosted) - RRB12Q023, Attachment A - List of RRB Sites/Offices - RRB12Q023, Formatted Solicitation Document - RRB12Q023 Learning Management System, Page 1 - SF1449 - RRB12Q023 - Cover Letter

Notice Date
7/19/2012
 
Notice Type
Combined Synopsis/Solicitation
 
NAICS
611420 — Computer Training
 
Contracting Office
Railroad Retirement Board, Acquisition Management Division, OA, Procurement Section, 844 North Rush Street, 9th Floor NE, Chicago, Illinois, 60611-2092
 
ZIP Code
60611-2092
 
Solicitation Number
RRB12Q023
 
Point of Contact
George H. Keesee, Phone: 8154774595, Paul T. Ahern, Phone: (312) 751-7130
 
E-Mail Address
george.keesee@rrb.gov, paul.ahern@rrb.gov
(george.keesee@rrb.gov, paul.ahern@rrb.gov)
 
Small Business Set-Aside
N/A
 
Description
RRB12Q023 - Cover Letter RRB12Q023 Learning Management System, Page 1 - SF1449 RRB12Q023, Formatted Solicitation Document RRB12Q023, Attachment A - List of RRB Sites/Offices SOLICITATION NO. RRB12Q023 - Learning Management System (Hosted) This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subject 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. I. OVERVIEW 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. Requirement: The RRB conducts its internal training using both training videos and paper based course materials and almost exclusively paper-based testing materials. RRB is seeking the services of a contractor to provide a "secure cloud hosted" Learning Management System (LMS) initially for 500 users with an option for up to 500 additional users. The RRB seeks a firm-fixed price contract for a basic and four option years. II. SCHEDULE OF PRICES AND SERVICES Offerors shall provide a "fully-loaded" firm fixed prices or price rates to provide the services as described below in Section III. The RRB defines "fully loaded rates" as the price inclusive of direct wage, fringe benefits, all overheads, general and administrative (G&A) costs, profit and fees, training materials and associated shipping costs for the contractor to provide the RRB a LMS system. A. Please enter a firm-fixed prices or fixed price rates below to perform work requirement for both Mandatory and Optional CLINS as described in the Statement of Work (SOW) in Section III. 1. LMS Implementation Services: The Offeror shall give a fully-loaded price to include all one-time set up charges for the LMS and a minimum of four (4) hours of system administrator training to the RRB (CLIN 001AA). Offeror shall also provide a firm-fixed price for the full-set up of the RRB pilot course (CLIN 001AB). Unit CLIN Item Description QTY Unit Price Amount 001 Implementation Services to make the RRB's LMS operational per the SOW in Section III and as specified below. 001AA Contractor services to implement and establish the RRB's LMS and provide four (4) hours of training for up to five (5) RRB LMS system administrators per the SOW in Section III.B, III.C, III.D, and III.E, below. 1 job tiny_mce_marker______ tiny_mce_marker______ 001AB OPTIONAL SERVICES** - Contractor shall establish and load the RRB initial or pilot course load and perform testing for all 49 course modules and tests as specified in section III.D.3. 1 job tiny_mce_marker______ tiny_mce_marker______ ** Offerors are required to submit price and technical offers on optional services 2. Secure Cloud Hosted LMS - 500 Employees The LMS shall include the secure cloud hosting, course software and 8 hours of telephone and/or email support provided to the RRB employees from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM CST from the Contractor. Offerors shall provide a firm fixed Price for 500 Employees per Month. Unit CLIN Item Description QTY Unit Price Amount 002 Hosted LMS services (see below) (For 500 employees in Pilot Program) as specified in Section III to cover each employee on-site in both Chicago, IL Headquarters and Field Service staff at locations as specified in Attachment A. (RRB will specify the minimum number of covered employees each contract year. The year the LMS is upgraded to 1,000 users, the price will be prorated for that year.) 002AA Hosted LMS 500 Employees tiny_mce_marker______ tiny_mce_marker______ BASIC YEAR - 9/17/2012 to 9/18/2013 002AB Hosted LMS 500 Employees tiny_mce_marker______ tiny_mce_marker______ First Option Year - 9/17/2013 to 9/18/2014 002AC Hosted LMS 500 Employees tiny_mce_marker______ tiny_mce_marker______ Second Option Year - 9/17/2014 to 9/18/2015 002AD Hosted LMS 500 Employees tiny_mce_marker______ tiny_mce_marker______ Third Option Year - 9/17/2015 to 9/18/2016 002AE Hosted LMS 500 Employees tiny_mce_marker______ tiny_mce_marker______ Fourth Option Year - 9/17/2016 to 9/18/2017 3. OPTIONAL Secure Cloud Hosted LMS Services - up to 1000 Employees The LMS shall include the secure cloud hosting, course software and 8 hours of telephone and/or email support provided to the RRB employees from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM CST from the Contractor. Offerors shall provide a firm fixed Price for a total of 1000 RRB Employees. Unit CLIN Item Description QTY Unit Price Amount 003 Hosted LMS (see below) (For an additional 500 employees) as specified in Section III to cover each employee on-site in both Chicago, IL Headquarters and Field Service staff at locations as specified in Attachment A. (RRB will specify the minimum number of covered employees each contract year. The year the LMS is upgraded to 1,000 users, the price will be prorated for that year.) 003AA Hosted LMS +500 Employees tiny_mce_marker______ tiny_mce_marker______ BASIC YEAR - 9/17/2012 to 9/18/2013 003AB Hosted LMS +500 Employees tiny_mce_marker______ tiny_mce_marker______ First Option Year - 9/17/2013 to 9/18/2014 0003C Hosted LMS +500 Employees tiny_mce_marker______ tiny_mce_marker______ Second Option Year - 9/17/2014 to 9/18/2015 003AD Hosted LMS +500 Employees tiny_mce_marker______ tiny_mce_marker______ Third Option Year - 9/17/2015 to 9/18/2016 003AE Hosted LMS +500 Employees tiny_mce_marker______ tiny_mce_marker______ Fourth Option Year - 9/17/2016 to 9/18/2017 4. Contract Closeout The contractor shall return to the RRB all materials provided, along with all employee training data in either Excel, Access (or both) to allow for uploading into the successor contractor's LMS. Offerors shall provide a firm fixed Price for this service. Unit CLIN Item Description QTY Unit Price Amount 004 Contract closeout actions (see below) 1 closeout tiny_mce_marker______ tiny_mce_marker______ (For 1,000 employees Enterprise Wide) as specified in Section III. The contractor shall return all RRB courses and provide all the RRB employees training data to the RRB upon contract closeout. B. CONTRACTOR INFORMATION FOR ORDER ADMINISTRATION 1) Order address ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ 2) Business Size ______________________ 3) Federal Tax ID # ______________________ [Submit on IRS Form W9 with offer] 4) DUNS No. ______________________ 5) Remit Address ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ 6) Offer is (check one) Open Market ___ GSA MAS Contract ________ Insert Contract No. __________________ (if applicable) Please attach (or E-Mail) a copy of contract. Effective dates ___________ - ______________. 7) Authorized representatives: Business Technical Name: Phone #: Fax #: E-Mail: 8) Central Contractor Registration (CCR) completed*: Yes [ ] No [ ] * Offeror must be properly registered, including business size annotation, in CCR to be eligible for award of a Federal contract or order. (See www.ccr.gov) III. STATEMENT OF WORK - SECURE CLOUD HOSTED LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (LMS) A. LMS General Requirements - The Contractor shall provide a secure cloud hosted LMS that initially will be used for a pilot with our Field Service, 53 offices based throughout the US, of up to 500 users per month. After the pilot project, the RRB may deem necessary at any time to upgrade to 1,000 users per month. The LMS will need to handle the potential additional users and it should be made available to all RRB staff 24/7 with a monthly uptime of 99%. Additionally, the RRB shall require a minimum 50 GB (50 GB total, not per person) of data storage. B. 1. LMS Software Requirements - The secure cloud hosted LMS should allow the RRB to develop an array of courses for different subject areas. The software must allow users to be assigned the following roles in the system. The roles that the RRB will require will be: System Administrator (or Super-User), Teacher, Student and Guest. A System Administrator's role should have full access to the software which includes but not limited to: Creating and modifying all courses that are in the system, changing/updating all user roles, enrolling all users, entering and pulling reports, checking on the status of all classes or users. A Teacher's role should have the same access as a System Administrator but limited to the Teacher's specific courses. A Student's role should have view only permissions for courses they are allowed to enroll into and receive information about their specific use. A Guest's role is a user visiting a course that they normally would not be enrolled in. The software needs to allow all System Administrators to set up users in groups so a user is only allowed to enroll in certain classes. The software shall allow a user to register for an approved class themselves. A System Administrator or Teacher shall also be able to enroll the user. The software must allow turning off self-enrollment to a course. The software needs to allow courses to be bundled together so a user will automatically be enrolled in all classes if it is in a bundle and allow for individual registration of any course within the bundle. 2. The software must allow links to different websites and link/upload videos published by the RRB or other learning content source and link/upload Word, Excel and Power Point documents. It will link directly to Microsoft Outlook if an email address is loaded into the software. The software shall allow easy transfer of text to an html format by using cut and paste, add a SCORM file, add A FLASH file, add a picture, change the name and description of a course, create a calendar event, and delete/add courses as needed. 3. RRB's pilot course includes 49 lesson plans, numerous quizzes and a final exam. The pilot course is designed to be sequential so the software needs to allow conditional activities if need be (i.e. lesson plan, quiz, and then end with a final exam) However, not all courses will need this requirement so conditional activities needs to be available when the RRB needs the requirement. Along with conditional activities, the software shall allow a class to be set up for a specific time frame or have it as an open-ended class. The software will also allow an Administrator to dictate which groups of users are to be allowed to enroll in the class. The software shall send out system reminders to Students, Teachers and Administrators about disenrollment, warn of course deadlines, and notify Administrators and Students of non-timely completion of a course. 4. The software must offer a quiz/exam builder. At a minimum, the types of questions offered should be: essay, multiple choice, short answer, true/false, drag and drop and random questions. Random questions are defined as a pool of questions that the system will randomly pull when an exam is administered more than once. The software should have the capability to build questions by categories (i.e. Medicare, Unemployment, Retirement, etc.) The software must allow an Administrator or Teacher to set up grades as a pass/fail and/or percentage based as needed. 5. The software shall include a questionnaire and a form maker. A questionnaire maker is defined as a tool to create custom surveys and feedback forms from students that have taken a class. A form maker is defined as a tool to allow a Teacher or Administrator to create samples of real-life applications (like a tax form) that can be used in a course as practice material. 6. The software needs to include some type of a certificate viewer and a way to view a bookmarker or learners progress bar. The certificate viewer is defined as a tool that allows Teachers and Administrators to view all certificates produced from the LMS. A bookmarker or learners progress bar is defined as a tool that keeps track of where the user is located in a course and also allows a Teacher and Administrator to see where all users are located in a course. C. LMS Reports - The Contractor shall provide monthly, year to date, and annual reports that can be downloaded into Excel or similar format on an Administrator desktop for posterity. Once a report has been downloaded, or received by the RRB, the data will remain property of the RRB, even after the contract ends. Once the contract has been awarded, the RRB may request additional electronic reports as deemed necessary; however, the contractor will only have to provide the reports to the RRB monthly. Monthly reports shall include the following minimum data elements: Note: the RRB may require additional columns of data, or additional data fields. The contractor will provide the additional data at the next monthly reporting, if the RRB has given the contractor at least 5 business days notice before the monthly reporting is due. The RRB may, as an option, approve a delay in the date the monthly reports are due if the contractor need more time to provide the data. Also, if it will take more than 5 business days to make changes to the monthly reporting, it will be reported to the RRB as soon as possible for disposition. The LMS shall have an ad hoc query report capability so RRB System Administrators, Super Users, and select Teachers can build reports and query the RRB LMS database. a. Number of users enrolled in each class b. Number of users enrolled system wide c. User names enrolled in a specific class d. User name and location in a specific class e. User name and completion date for a specific class f. User name and final score for exam in specific class g. User name and number of attempts to pass exam in specific class Year to date reports shall include the following minimum data: a. All of the above monthly data in a year to date format. Year end reports should include the following minimum data: a. Number of users enrolled in a specific course during the year b. Number of users enrolled in the system during the year c. User name and all completed courses during the year C. LMS IT Requirements - The Contractor shall provide the following privacy and security measures in regards to the hosting the LMS: a. The hosting must be under a secure server or secure cloud server with uptime of at least 99% monthly. Backup of system shall occur at a minimum of every 6 hours. b. The amount of storage required is a minimum of 50 GB to hold the RRB data stored on the contractors hosted system. c. Secure HTTPS: Link for the website is required. The RRB plans to put a link on its internal intranet home page to the hosted LMS site. The link will be made available to all RRB (Students, Teachers, and Administrators) Staff 24 hours per day, seven (7) days per week. All of the information and data stored on the contractor's hosted web-site MUST be kept confidential by encrypting a password to the web site. d. The information to be used for registration process is: first and last name, email address, city, username and password. e. Registration information will be kept confidential by an encrypting password that only RRB Administrators will have access to. f. At termination of contract, after the final transfer of data is given to the RRB and approved, all data will be purged from the contractors servers/hard drive(s) using an approved method as listed in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication, 800-88, Guidelines for Media Sanitization. D. LMS Implementation, Training and Pilot Course Design/Load-up Services 1. LMS Implementation for RRB. The Contractor shall establish the RRB LMS with Secure data restricted to RRB users only. The Contractor shall provide RRB a secure hyperlink to use on RRB's Intranet for authorized users to access the LMS. Contractor shall provide and maintain the implementation project plan until RRB acceptance of the LMS for use. 2. LMS System Administrator Training. The Contractor will be responsible for providing four (4) hours of system administrator training to pertinent RRB staff for no more than five (5) people. The training will be done via a webinar (or other agreed to method) and in one hour increments. The type of training needed will be finalized by the RRB staff and the contractor no later than two (2) weeks after the project has been awarded to the contractor. The system administrator training must be scheduled within the first two (2) weeks of contract award, and shall be completed within the first two (2) months after the contract has been awarded. 3. Pilot Course Design/Input. If the RRB Elects the Option for Contractor to set up the pilot course, the Contractor will have the responsibility of loading 49 lesson plans (637 pages) that are currently Word documents into HTML format. The lesson plans also include embedded links to our RRB internal website along with links to our RRB video library that will need to be included when transferring the data over to the LMS. There are also 10 quizzes with approximately 25 questions each and a final exam that has approximately 200 random questions that will need to be reformatted for the LMS. Currently all quizzes and final exams are in essay format so the vendor will need to work with the RRB LMS staff and the QAR to switch questions over to a format where the LMS will be able to automatically score. All questions will be set up under a specific category. The categories will be determined by RRB staff. The Contractor will be required to demo their work to pertinent RRB staff after they have loaded and reformatted the first lesson plan and quiz for approval. Once the first lesson plan has been approved, the Contractor will use a similar format for all of the remaining lessons in the pilot course. The Contractor will give the RRB a sample of their work for each course added to the course library to ensure all the mandatory requirements are met. A final check of each will be conducted once the lesson plans, quizzes and final exam have been entered and reformatted. The Contractor will not place any course on the LMS until it receives final approval from the RRB LMS Staff and the QAR. The Contractor agrees to make changes required by the RRB during the set up of the pilot course. The first pilot course should be made available for use by the RRB no later than two (2) months after the contract is awarded. E. LMS Customer Support. The Contractor shall provide customer support via telephone and/or email, Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM Central Standard Time excluding federal holidays. (If the contractor offers longer customer support hours, please so note in the offer). PLEASE NOTE: The RRB MAY need additional customer and technical support during the first 180 days of the contract to assist in the implementation. Turn around on support should be as follows: Simple inquires by phone shall be answered at the time of the call and more complex inquiries shall be addressed within one business day. The RRB desires that the hold times for the telephone support average no longer than 2 minutes over a month's time. After implementation, the RRB intends to use email inquiries as its primary method of customer and technical service. Email help tickets shall have be answered within one business day. If an email inquiry is complex, an interim message shall be sent within one business day of receipt and a complete answer be received as soon as the contractor has a complete answer. The telephone number, email address and times for support must be posted in clear view on the RRB portal into the hosted LMS. Support will be provided as needed initially at a minimum to 53 Field Service offices based throughout the United States along with the System Administrators and Teachers of the LMS. After the pilot project, support may be provided enterprise-wide through the entire RRB, on exercise of the option for the additional 500 users. F. LMS Closeout Services - The contractor shall provide within 30 days prior to close out a mutually agreeable updated reports with all the RRB LMS data by Excel or other mutually agreeable format. Upon notification from the RRB, or within 60 days the contractor will purge all RRB data per Section III.D.f, above. IV. Contract Clauses and Provisions A. Federal Acquisition Regulation Clauses Incorporated by References 1. This solicitation incorporates one or more solicitation provisions by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. 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 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): www.acquistioncentral.gov, www.orca.bnp.gov. 2. The following provisions and/or clauses are hereby incorporated by reference: Central Contractor Registration, FAR 52.204-7 (APR 2008), Instructions to Offerors - Commercial Items, FAR 52.212-1 (JUNE 2008), Contract Terms and Conditions - Commercial Items, FAR 52.212-4 (JUN 2010), Availability of Funds, FAR 52.232-18 (APR 1984), Disputes, FAR 52.233-1 (JULY 2002), Protest after Award, FAR 52.233-3 (AUG 1996), Privacy or Security Safeguards, FAR 52.239-1 (AUG 1996). Employment Eligibility Verification - FAR 52.222-54 (JAN 2009), Encouraging Contractor Policies to Ban Text Messaging While Driving - FAR 52.223-18 (AUG 2011. B. Invoicing Contractor shall submit invoices in detail per Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Clause 52.212-4, Subparagraph g. outlined "Invoices". Contractor invoices shall be monthly in arrears of providing the services. C. Government Property. The Contractor shall take all reasonable precautions, as directed by the Government, or in the absence of such direction, in accordance with sound industrial practices, to safeguard and protect Government data and intellectual property. RRB data and information stored on the RRB LMS shall remain the property of the RRB.  Government property shall be used only in direct operations of providing contract services and shall not be used in any manner for any personal advantage, business gain, or other personal endeavor by the Contractor or the Contractor's Employees. D. Ordering of Services The RRB will generally issue delivery orders for one time (e.g. LMS system setup, pilot system setup) and monthly recurring services (e.g. hosted LMS services), however, reserves the right to place a credit card order if the need is urgent. E. Ordering of other (in-scope) LMS Services RRB may require other LMS Services that are considered by the RRB to be in-scope of this solicitation, but are not currently priced. A request for quotation (written or verbal) will be submitted from the RRB to the contractor for pricing. All special pricing requests for other LMS Services will be answered within one business day of the request. If the quote request is of such complexity that the contractor needs more than one business day to respond, they shall notify the RRB of the extra time needed to respond to the request within one business day. F. Availability of Funds For the Next Fiscal Year - FAR 52.232-19 (APR 1984) Funds are not presently available for performance under this contract beyond September 30, 2012. The Government's obligation for performance of this contract beyond that date is contingent upon the availability of appropriated funds from which payment for contract purposes can be made. No legal liability on the part of the Government for any payment may arise for performance under this contract beyond September 30, 2012, until funds are made available to the Contracting Officer for performance and until the Contractor receives notice of availability, to be confirmed in writing by the Contracting Officer. G. TECHNICAL DIRECTION: Performance of the work under this contract shall be subject to the technical direction of the Quality Assurance Representative (QAR) who will be a member of the RRB LMS Staff. The term "technical direction" is defined to comprise the following: a. Directions to the Contractor which redirect the contract effort, shift work emphasis between work areas or tasks, require pursuit of certain lines of inquiry, fill in details or otherwise serve to accomplish the contractual statement of work. b. Provisions of information to the Contractor which assists in the interpretation of drawings, specifications or technical portions of the work description. c. Review and, where required by the contract, approve technical reports, drawings, specifications and technical information to be delivered by the Contractor to the Government under this contract. Technical directions must be within the general scope of work stated in the contract. The QAR does not have the authority to and may not issue any direction which (1) constitutes an assignment of additional work outside the general scope of the contract; (2) constitutes a change as defined in the contract article entitled "Changes"; (3) in any manner causes an increase or decrease in the estimated cost or the time required for contract performance; or (4) changes any of the expressed terms, conditions, or specifications of the contract. The Contractor shall proceed promptly with the performance of technical directions duly issued by the QAR in the manner prescribed by this Section and within his authority under the provisions of this Section. If, in the opinion of the Contractor, any instruction or direction issued by the QAR is within one of the categories as defined in (1) through (4) above, the Contractor shall not proceed but shall notify the Contracting Officer within five (5) working days after receipt of any such instruction or direction and shall request the Contracting Officer to modify the contract accordingly. Upon receiving such notification from the Contractor, the Contracting Officer shall issue an appropriate contract modification or advise the Contractor in writing that, in his opinion, the technical direction is within the scope of this Section and does not constitute a change under the Changes article of the contract. The Contractor shall thereupon proceed immediately with the direction given. A failure of the parties to agree upon the nature of the instruction or direction or upon the contract action to be taken with respect thereto shall be subject to the provisions of the contract article entitled "Disputes". H. Contracting Officials: a. The Contracting Officer has the overall responsibility for the administration of this contract. He alone, without delegation, is authorized to take actions on behalf of the Government to: amend, modify or deviate from the contract terms, conditions, requirements, specifications, details and/or delivery schedules; make final decisions on disputed deductions from contract payments for nonperformance or unsatisfactory performance; terminate the contract for convenience or default; issue final decisions regarding contract questions or matters under dispute. He may, however, delegate certain other responsibilities to his authorized representatives including the QAR and the Contractor Administrator. b. The Contract Administrator has the overall responsibility for the day to day administration of the contract including preparation of contract documents, communication with the Contractor's staff regarding contract administrative or performance measures, review and processing of invoices, conduct of initial negotiations on contract services when required, and issuance of delivery orders for any optional services. c. The Quality Assurance Representative (QAR). See paragraph G, Technical Direction (above). (End of provision) I. Contractor staff replacement: To ensure consistency and quality of work performance, the contractor shall make all reasonable efforts to maintain stability of the LMS services. Replacement staff assigned the RRB account, if necessary, shall have equal or superior qualifications to the original staff; and be subject to the qualifications review, and approval of the RRB QAR. The contractor shall not substitute key staff assigned to the RRB except for exigent circumstances (sickness, etc.) that would impede or jeopardize timely and quality performance of the services. The Contractor shall provide 2 weeks' notice, except under exigent circumstances, to the QAR of a proposed staff substitution. J. A project kick-off conference will be held by teleconference within two (2) weeks of contract award to set implementation timetables and confirm Contractor's plan/resources to perform RRB specific LMS needs. K. Option to Extend Services - FAR 52.217-8 (NOV 1999) The Government may require continued performance of any services within the limits and at the rates specified in the contract. These rates may be adjusted only as a result of revisions to prevailing labor rates provided by the Secretary of Labor. The option provision may be exercised more than once, but the total extension of performance hereunder shall not exceed 6 months. The Contracting Officer may exercise the option by written notice to the Contractor within 30 days. (End of clause) L. Option to Extendthe Term of the Contract. - FAR 52.217-9 (MAR 2000) (a) The Government may extend the term of this contract by written notice to the Contractor within 30 days; provided that the Government gives the Contractor a preliminary written notice of its intent to extend at least 60 days before the contract expires. The preliminary notice does not commit the Government to an extension. (b) If the Government exercises this option, the extended contract shall be considered to include this option clause. (c) The total duration of this contract, including the exercise of any options under this clause, shall not exceed 5 years. (End of clause) M. Conflict of Interest The contractor agrees not to have any direct or indirect financial or familial interest, or engage in any activity, which conflicts substantially, or appears to conflict substantially, with the contractor's duties under this contract. The contractor further agrees that the Board shall have the exclusive right to determine whether such a conflict of interest exists, and whether it is substantial. Failure of the contractor to adhere to this provision will, at the discretion of the Board, result in the immediate termination of the contract without any further liability of the Board. N. PRIVACY ACT NOTIFICATION - FAR 52.224-1 (APR 1984) The Contractor will be required to design, develop, or operate a system of records on individuals, to accomplish an agency function subject to the Privacy Act of 1974, public Law 93-579, December 31, 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a) and applicable agency regulations. Violation of the Act may involve the imposition of criminal penalties. (End of clause) O. PRIVACY ACT - FAR 52.224-2 (APR 1984) (a) The Contractor agrees to- (1) Comply with the Privacy Act of 1974 (the Act) and the agency rules and regulations issued under the Act in the design, development, or operation of any system of records on individuals to accomplish an agency function when the contract specifically identifies- (i) The systems of records; and (ii) The design, development, or operation work that the contractor is to perform; (2) Include the Privacy Act notification contained in this contract in every solicitation and resulting subcontract and in every subcontract awarded without a solicitation, when the work statement in the proposed subcontract requires the redesign, development, or operation of a system of records on individuals that is subject to the Act; and (3) Include this clause, including this paragraph (3), in all subcontracts awarded under this contract which requires the design, development, or operation of such a system of records. (b) In the event of violations of the Act, a civil action may be brought against the agency involved when the violation concerns the design, development, or operation of a system of records on individuals to accomplish an agency function, and criminal penalties may be imposed upon the officers or employees of the agency when the violation concerns the operation of a system of records on individuals to accomplish an agency function. For purposes of the Act, when the contract is for the operation of a system of records on individuals to accomplish an agency function, the Contractor is considered to be an employee of the agency. (c)(1) "Operation of a system of records," as used in this clause, means performance of any of the activities associated with maintaining the system of records, including the collection, use, and dissemination of records. (2) "Record," as used in this clause, means any item, collection, or grouping of information about an individual that is maintained by an agency, including, but not limited to, education, financial transactions, medical history, and criminal or employment history and that contains the person's name, or the identifying number, symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to the individual, such as a fingerprint or voiceprint or a photograph. (3) "System of records on individuals," as used in this clause, means a group of any records under the control of any agency from which information is retrieved by the name of the individual or by some identifying number, symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to the individual. (End of clause) P. SERVICE OF PROTEST FAR 52.233-2 (SEPT 2006) (a) Protests, as defined in section 33.101 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, that are filed directly with an agency, and copies of any protests that are filed with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), shall be served on the Contracting Officer (addressed as follows) by obtaining written and dated acknowledgment of receipt from: Director of Administration U.S. Railroad Retirement Board 844. N Rush St. Chicago, IL 60611 (b) The copy of any protest shall be received in the office designated above within one day of filing a protest with the GAO. (End of provision) V. SUBMISSION OF QUOTATIONS/PROPOSALS A. Instructions to Offerors - Commercial Items (JUN 2008) FAR 52.212-1 (a) North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and small business size standard. The NAICS code and small business size standard for this acquisition appear in Block 10 of the solicitation cover sheet (SF 1449). However, the small business size standard for a concern which submits an offer in its own name, but which proposes to furnish an item which it did not itself manufacture, is 500 employees. (b) Submission of offers. Submit signed and dated offers to the office specified in this solicitation at or before the exact time specified in this solicitation. Offers may be submitted on the SF 1449, letterhead stationery, or as otherwise specified in the solicitation. As a minimum, offers must show- (1) The solicitation number; (2) The time specified in the solicitation for receipt of offers; (3) The name, address, and telephone number of the offeror; (4) A technical description of the items being offered in sufficient detail to evaluate compliance with the requirements in the solicitation. This may include product literature, or other documents, if necessary; (5) Terms of any express warranty; (6) Price and any discount terms; (7) "Remit to" address, if different than mailing address; (8) A completed copy of the representations and certifications at FAR 52.212-3 (see FAR 52.212-3(b) for those representations and certifications that the offeror shall complete electronically); (9) Acknowledgment of Solicitation Amendments; (10) Past performance information, when included as an evaluation factor, to include recent and relevant contracts for the same or similar items and other references (including contract numbers, points of contact with telephone numbers and other relevant information); and (11) If the offer is not submitted on the SF 1449, include a statement specifying the extent of agreement with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation. Offers that fail to furnish required representations or information, or reject the terms and conditions of the solicitation may be excluded from consideration. (c) Period for acceptance of offers. The offeror agrees to hold the prices in its offer firm for 30 calendar days from the date specified for receipt of offers, unless another time period is specified in an addendum to the solicitation. (d) Product samples. When required by the solicitation, product samples shall be submitted at or prior to the time specified for receipt of offers. Unless otherwise specified in this solicitation, these samples shall be submitted at no expense to the Government, and returned at the sender's request and expense, unless they are destroyed during preaward testing. (e) Multiple offers. Offerors are encouraged to submit multiple offers presenting alternative terms and conditions or commercial items for satisfying the requirements of this solicitation. Each offer submitted will be evaluated separately. (f) Late submissions, modifications, revisions, and withdrawals of offers. (1) Offerors are responsible for submitting offers, and any modifications, revisions, or withdrawals, so as to reach the Government office designated in the solicitation by the time specified in the solicitation. If no time is specified in the solicitation, the time for receipt is 4:30 p.m., local time, for the designated Government office on the date that offers or revisions are due. (2)(i) Any offer, modification, revision, or withdrawal of an offer received at the Government office designated in the solicitation after the exact time specified for receipt of offers is "late" and will not be considered unless it is received before award is made, the Contracting Officer determines that accepting the late offer would not unduly delay the acquisition; and- (A) If it was transmitted through an electronic commerce method authorized by the solicitation, it was received at the initial point of entry to the Government infrastructure not later than 5:00 p.m. one working day prior to the date specified for receipt of offers; or (B) There is acceptable evidence to establish that it was received at the Government installation designated for receipt of offers and was under the Government's control prior to the time set for receipt of offers; or (C) If this solicitation is a request for proposals, it was the only proposal received. (ii) However, a late modification of an otherwise successful offer, that makes its terms more favorable to the Government, will be considered at any time it is received and may be accepted. (3) Acceptable evidence to establish the time of receipt at the Government installation includes the time/date stamp of that installation on the offer wrapper, other documentary evidence of receipt maintained by the installation, or oral testimony or statements of Government personnel. (4) If an emergency or unanticipated event interrupts normal Government processes so that offers cannot be received at the Government office designated for receipt of offers by the exact time specified in the solicitation, and urgent Government requirements preclude amendment of the solicitation or other notice of an extension of the closing date, the time specified for receipt of offers will be deemed to be extended to the same time of day specified in the solicitation on the first work day on which normal Government processes resume. (5) Offers may be withdrawn by written notice received at any time before the exact time set for receipt of offers. Oral offers in response to oral solicitations may be withdrawn orally. If the solicitation authorizes facsimile offers, offers may be withdrawn via facsimile received at any time before the exact time set for receipt of offers, subject to the conditions specified in the solicitation concerning facsimile offers. An offer may be withdrawn in person by an offeror or its authorized representative if, before the exact time set for receipt of offers, the identity of the person requesting withdrawal is established and the person signs a receipt for the offer. (g) Contract award (not applicable to Invitation for Bids). The Government intends to evaluate offers and award a contract without discussions with offerors. Therefore, the offeror's initial offer should 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 Contracting Officer 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. (h) Multiple awards. The Government may accept any item or group of items of an offer, unless the offeror qualifies the offer by specific limitations. Unless otherwise provided in the Schedule, offers may not be submitted for quantities less than those specified. The Government reserves the right to make an award on any item for a quantity less than the quantity offered, at the unit prices offered, unless the offeror specifies otherwise in the offer. (i) Availability of requirements documents cited in the solicitation. (1)(i) The GSA Index of Federal Specifications, Standards and Commercial Item Descriptions, FPMR Part 101-29, and copies of specifications, standards, and commercial item descriptions cited in this solicitation may be obtained for a fee by submitting a request to- GSA Federal Supply Service Specifications Section Suite 8100 470 East L'Enfant Plaza, SW Washington, DC 20407 Telephone (202) 619-8925 Facsimile (202) 619-8978. (ii) If the General Services Administration, Department of Agriculture, or Department of Veterans Affairs issued this solicitation, a single copy of specifications, standards, and commercial item descriptions cited in this solicitation may be obtained free of charge by submitting a request to the addressee in paragraph (i)(1)(i) of this provision. Additional copies will be issued for a fee. (2) Most unclassified Defense specifications and standards may be downloaded from the following ASSIST websites: (i) ASSIST (http://assist.daps.dla.mil). (ii) Quick Search (http://assist.daps.dla.mil/quicksearch). (iii) ASSISTdocs.com (http://assistdocs.com). (3) Documents not available from ASSIST may be ordered from the Department of Defense Single Stock Point (DoDSSP) by- (i) Using the ASSIST Shopping Wizard (http://assist.daps.dla.mil/wizard); (ii) Phoning the DoDSSP RRB Service Desk (215) 697-2179, Mon-Fri, 0730 to 1600 EST; or (iii) Ordering from DoDSSP, Building 4, Section D, 700 Robbins Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19111-5094, Telephone (215) 697-2667/2179, Facsimile (215) 697-1462. (4) Nongovernment (voluntary) standards must be obtained from the organization responsible for their preparation, publication, or maintenance. (j) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number. (Applies to all offers exceeding $3,000, and offers of $3,000 or less if the solicitation requires the Contractor to be registered in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database.) The offeror shall enter, in the block with its name and address on the cover page of its offer, the annotation "DUNS" or "DUNS+4" followed by the DUNS or DUNS+4 number that identifies the offeror's name and address. The DUNS+4 is the DUNS number plus a 4-character suffix that may be assigned at the discretion of the offeror to establish additional CCR records for identifying alternative Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) accounts (see FAR Subpart 32.11) for the same concern. If the offeror does not have a DUNS number, it should contact Dun and Bradstreet directly to obtain one. An offeror within the United States may contact Dun and Bradstreet by calling 1-866-705-5711 or via the internet at http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform. An offeror located outside the United States must contact the local Dun and Bradstreet office for a DUNS number. The offeror should indicate that it is an offeror for a Government contract when contacting the local Dun and Bradstreet office. (k) Central Contractor Registration. Unless exempted by an addendum to this solicitation, by submission of an offer, the offeror acknowledges the requirement that a prospective awardee shall be registered in the CCR database 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 CCR 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 internet at http://www.ccr.gov or by calling 1-888-227-2423 or 269-961-5757. (l) Debriefing. If a post-award debriefing is given to requesting offerors, the Government shall disclose the following information, if applicable: (1) The agency's evaluation of the significant weak or deficient factors in the debriefed offeror's offer. (2) The overall evaluated cost or price and technical rating of the successful and the debriefed offeror and past performance information on the debriefed offeror. (3) The overall ranking of all offerors, when any ranking was developed by the agency during source selection. (4) A summary of the rationale for award; (5) For acquisitions of commercial items, the make and model of the item to be delivered by the successful offeror. (6) Reasonable responses to relevant questions posed by the debriefed offeror as to whether source-selection procedures set forth in the solicitation, applicable regulations, and other applicable authorities were followed by the agency. (End of provision) B. RRB Supplemental Instructions to Offerors 1. Offerors shall submit their offers in accordance with FAR 52.212-1 (See V.A. above) 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 Contractor's name and the attached files shall be named with the solicitation number, the Contractor's name and "technical" or "price". 2. Offerors shall submit physical or electronic offers so to be received by the RRB by 2:00 p.m. Central Standard Time on Wednesday August 15th, 2012. Mark outside of the envelopes containing proposals with "RRB12Q023 Enclosed" and offeror's name and address. Address the package to: U.S. Railroad Retirement Board, Acquisition Management-Procurement, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, IL 60611-2092. 3. Any further questions regarding this RFQ must be submitted to the RRB by 2:00 PM Central time on Friday, July 27th, 2012, in writing, on company letterhead to: Acquisition Management - Procurement 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, IL 60611-2092, or faxed to: 312/751-4923. IN ADDITION questions must be sent by email to george.keesee@rrb.gov The evaluated technical factors listed below in Section V.B.4.a.1 and 2 are MANDATORY submissions. The RRB reserves the right to reject any proposal that is silent on these requirements. Item V.B.4.a.3 is encouraged, but optional. 4. THE PROPOSAL SHALL INCLUDE: a. Technical proposal in three hard copies (unless submitted electronic) consisting of their technical proposal with sections separated as described below. The technical proposal shall include 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 completed 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. Project Management Approach - (Mandatory Submission) The offeror's project management shall be explained and shall include the following: i. Management Control Plan - The offeror shall submit a summary of their management control plan. The summary shall include the planned management of the project to implement and host the RRB's LMS and include a complete description of how the contractor would upgrade from 500 users to 1000 users. The summary shall include, at a minimum: plan of action and milestone information, projected timeline/milestone chart, corresponding staff assignments', the steps involved in providing the hosted LMS, the input/design of the pilot course described in Section III, and the use and management of any subcontractor(s) assistance shall be fully discussed. Offerors shall provide information for both the pilot project for Field Service locations and enterprise wide after the pilot is completed, in order to assure that services can be satisfactorily provided in all locations and for all requirements in Sections III above. ii. Risk Management Plan - Offerors should fully explain how they will minimize any risks entailed in accepting, posting, and maintaining and providing access and availability of the hosted RRB's LMS. iii. Quality Control Plan - Offerors shall submit details to demonstrate they have a quality control plan which will ensure effectiveness, efficiency, and high quality services levels incident to providing an accessible hosted LMS. The plan shall address procedures for deficiency detection and implementation of corrective measures. iv. Staffing Plan - The offeror shall submit a staffing plan detailing the organizational structure and the quality of the proposed project staffing. The offeror shall include a project organization chart showing related job titles and functions as well as supervisory/managerial roles. The offeror shall provide resumes for: a. Customer Support staff (CSS) that will be assigned to provide the RRB with Student/user support for LMS. The resume shall be person specific or representative of the Contractor CSS who could be assigned to support the RRB. b. Technical Support person that will be assigned to support RRB Information Technology staff and/or the RRB's LMS System Administrators. The resume shall be person specific or representative of the Contractor's Technical Support staff who could be assigned to support the RRB. c. Design person that will be assigned to the RRB to design/input the pilot course (as determined by the RRB) or Technical/Design staff that is representative of who could be assigned to support the RRB in implementing the Pilot Course. The resumes should indicate specific experience in the above work and relevant certifications and/or degrees per the SOW in Section III shall be clearly presented. 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 for commercial firms. Information can be provided from such contracts within the past eighteen months, or the last contracts performed. 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. 3. Value Added Approach/Resources - The offeror shall provide a detailed description of any organizational assets or resources or project approach characteristics that would be advantageous to the RRB to accomplish its Learning Management objectives. (Optional Submission) (Offeror MUST indicate that this is value added and clearly describe how it should be considered as a value added service to the RRB) 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 as specified in Section II.A CLIN 001AA and 001AB, 002AA-002AE, 003AA-003AE, and 004. 3) Contractor's business information as outlined in Section II.B. above. 4) One (1) electronic copy of the Contractor's Representations and Certifications (See II.D) from site www.orca.gov 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 and options 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. VI. EVALUATION AND AWARD A. In compliance with FAR clause 52.212-2, Evaluation of Offers - Commercial Items, the Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforms to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government in terms of both technical and price factors as outlined below. The Technical to Price ratio is 1:1. B. Technical Proposal Evaluation 1. To be considered responsive, the offeror must comply with the format and content specified in Section V, SUBMISSION OF QUOTATIONS/PROPOSALS (Instructions to Offerors). Offerors whose proposals are deemed deficient in this regard may be permitted, at the RRB's discretion, to remedy the deficiency by submitting additional clarifying or supplemental information. However, the offeror runs the risk that the RRB may not allow the offeror to submit additional information or clarify the proposal and be deemed non-responsive. 2. Responsive proposals shall be evaluated to determine the relative technical merit of each response. Accordingly, the objective of this evaluation is to measure the extent to which proposals meet the requirements as stated in the Statement of Work and the required proposal format and content, Section V, SUBMISSION OF QUOTATIONS/PROPOSALS (Instructions to Offerors). 3. Calculation of the technical score (100 possible points) will be accomplished by adding the points awarded for each rated area as outlined in the technical evaluation factors below. 4. Technical proposals will be first reviewed for content conformance to proposal preparation instructions. Proposals that are very deficient in this area as to not warrant further consideration will be rejected and the offeror will be so notified. 5. The RRB will evaluate proposals against the following technical factors in descending order of importance: a. Project Management Approach (70 possible points, 70% of the technical points available): The RRB Technical Evaluation team will evaluate the Contractor's technical approach, process, plans, to determine if it provides • A comprehensive outline and structure to achieve the RRB's LMS objectives and providing the performance elements and resources outlined in the SOW. • The RRB will evaluate the Offeror's Management Control Plan - to ensure that the Contractor shall adequately staff, and addresses the RRB upgrading from 500 users to 1000 users. The RRB will evaluate the action and milestone plans, timeline and milestone chart(s), proposed staff assignments, the input/design of the pilot course described in Section III. • The use and management of any subcontractor(s) assistance shall be fully discussed. • Offerors shall provide adequate information in order for the RRB to assure that all LMS services can be satisfactorily provided in all locations listed in Attachment A. • The RRB will ensure that the Risk Management Plan mitigates risk to implementation, and system security and LMS system availability. • The RRB shall evaluate the contractors entire Quality Control Plan proposed to ensure LMS effectiveness, efficiency, and high quality service levels incident to providing an accessible hosted LMS. • The RRB shall examine the resumes outlined in the Staffing Plan (including the organizational structure) to ensure that the staff is qualified to perform their roles in providing the RRB LMS services. b. Past Performance (25 possible points, 25% of the technical points available) The RRB will obtain information from the contract references provided by the offeror. The offeror is advised that the RRB may obtain past performance information from sources other than those identified by the offeror. The RRB intends to contact at least three clients for which similar tasks or services have been performed. The RRB will evaluate the following performance characteristics to determine the offerors demonstrated capability to provide the Learning Management System services including: • Direct applicability of the referenced project to the RRB's project scope and requirements setup and hosted services for a hosted Learning Management System with 500-1000 users, • Customer satisfaction, which includes satisfaction of end users with the offeror's service, • Quality of service, • Reliability and timeliness of performance, which includes the offeror's reliability as well as the ability to perform in a timely manner. c. Value Added or project approach characteristics (Optional) (5 possible points, 5% of the technical points available): • The RRB will evaluate the offeror's proposed value-added features of its program for any organizational or project approach characteristics described by the offeror that clearly demonstrate the capability to provide distinct advantages to the RRB in terms of quality, price, or extra services to best meet the RRB's LMS needs. An example might be: having longer customer and technical service hours than the RRB requested. C. Price Proposal evaluation - 1. The Government will evaluate each price offerors price proposal, i.e., the total evaluated price (TEP), as the sum of the firm fixed prices for CLINs 001AA - 001AB, 002AA-002AE, 003AA-003AE, and 004.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) 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 price in CLIN 001AA - 001AB, 002AA-002AE, 003AA-003AE, and 004, 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.
 
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Place of Performance
Address: Contractor Managed System. Accessed by RRB Staff Nationwide., United States
 
Record
SN02809532-W 20120721/120720001343-49abefc5a2785266e327dd5fe767660f (fbodaily.com)
 
Source
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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