National Park Service, North Cascades NPS Complex, 6247 Ranger Station Road, Marblemount WA 98267

D -- LEASED SATELLITE SERVICES SOL 1443-RP9475-98-001 DUE 030398 POC Contact/Contracting Officer, Sarah Welch (360) 873-4590 x11 WEB: North Cascades National Park, http://www.nps.gov. E-MAIL: North Cascades National Park, sarah_welch@nps.gov. This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation. Proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. This is RFP #1443-RP9475-98-001. Prospective offerors shall obtain a copy of all exhibits cited herein via fax from the Contract Specialist listed above; requests should be made immediately. This RFP and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 97-03, dated 12/9/97. This is a full and open competition, SIC 4899, Communications Services, Not Elsewhere Classified. We expect RFP #1443-RP9475-98-001 will result in a firm-fixed price contract with a one-year base period beginning April 1, 1998, plus four (4) one-year options to extend the term of the contract. The FAR provisions at 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors -- Commercial Items;FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation -- Commercial Items; FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions -- Commercial Items; FAR 52.217-9, Option to Extend the Term of the Contract; FAR 52.232-19, Availability of Funds for the Next Fiscal Year; and FAR 52.237-3, Continuity of Services, apply to this RFP. FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders -- Commercial Items, also applies to this acquisition (available by fax from Contracting Officer). The Government expects to award a contract resulting from this RFP to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the RFP will be the most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors, in descending order of importance, shall be used to evaluate offers: (1) Offeror's proposed technical approach (capability of the item offered to meet the Government's need), including responsiveness to service interruptions; (2) Offeror's proposed price; and (3) Offeror's past performance. The deadline for receipt of offers is March 3, 1998, 12:00pm PST. Price and technical proposals shall be signed by an official authorized to bind your organization. Offers for RFP #1443-RP9475-98-001 may be submitted on letterhead or the Standard Form 1449, and must include, at a minimum, (1) the solicitation number; (2) the date and time 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, including descriptive literature, if appropriate; (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 FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications -- Commercial Items; (9) acknowledgment of RFP amendments, if any; (10) past performance information, 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) a statement specifying the extent of agreement with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation. Submit one (1) copy with price and technical proposals bound separately to: US Department of Interior, North Cascades NPS Complex, Attn: Sarah Welch, 6247 Ranger Station Road, Marblemount WA 98267. Contract award may be made without discussion. DESCRIPTION OF THE REQUIREMENTS: North Cascades National Park uses VSAT technology to provide voice and data communications between its Sedro-Woolley Headquarters and Stehekin District offices. The two locations are within 60 miles of each other in western Washington (Sedro-Woolley 48.50 N lat, 122.25 W long; Stehekin 48.31 N lat, 120.65 W long). The system has been in place since 1992 and includes, at each end, a 2.4m antenna equipped with de-icing components; an outdoor unit (ODU, consisting of a 3-watt RF unit with feed, a low noise converter (LNC) with a noise temperature of 225 Kelvin, a power amplifier, and an up-converter); an indoor unit (IDU, NEC D1230A variable rate modem with 449/422 interface); a PCSI Clarity Series 8000 multiplexer; and required cabling and electrical power. The Sedro-Woolley end also has a local exchange telephone line with dial-up modem for remote diagnostic control and monitoring. We currently lease space segment on Telstar 401, which is multiplexed into seven analog voice and two digital data channels. The circuit is 64 kbps, Ku-band, full duplex, full period, with QPSK (quadrature phase shift keying) modulation, 1/2 rate forward error correction, and a bit error rate (BER) of 1 x 10-7. Offerors proposing a different circuit configuration must provide documentation on its technical capability and compatibility with our existing equipment. The proposed satellite circuit must be licensed and in full compliance with applicable FCC tariffs and regulations. The satellite circuit is the only telecommunications link to/from Stehekin and is vital to our operation. Offerors shall furnish adequate safeguards against failures in the Contractor-provided link, including service on a fully protected transponder with a minimum availability of 99.5%, calculated on 24 hours/day/365 days/year. Interruptions that exceed 99.5% per year shall be credited to the Government at a pro-rated rate. Interruptions caused by sun transit outages or failure of Government-owned equipment are excluded from link availability calculations. The Contractor shall coordinate planned downtimes with the Park Telecommunications Coordinator (PTC) or delegated representative when contemplated, at least five (5) business days prior to the downtime. If emergency maintenance is required on the circuit, the Contractor shall notify the PTC as soon as possible. In the event of satellite or transponder failure, the Contractor shall restore service as soon as possible and pay all charges incurred, including repointing antennae and retuning transmitters if necessary, aswell as provide credit for service interruption. Offerors shall prepare a remote monitoring and control strategy, including a service restoration plan and fault escalation list with a minimum of two managerial levels above the control center, providing name, title, 24-hour telephone numbers (office, mobile (if available), fax, and home), and electronic mail address (if available), to be submitted as part of the technical proposal. If this RFP results in award to other than the incumbent contractor, the new Contractor shall conduct any necessary repointing of antennae and reconfiguration of other equipment so as to minimize service interruption. This work shall be coordinated with the PTC. We are seeking to continue service at 64 kbps, while exploring the fiscal feasibility of increasing our bandwidth to 128 kbps. To this end, offerors shall provide prices for both rates and the Government will award only those customer line item numbers (CLINs) pertinent to the data rate we choose. The Government will arrange for re-programming of the multiplexers if award is made at the 128 kbps rate. Offerors shall provide prices for all necessary labor and materials required to perform all services described herein. Prices shall be per month of service, plus any additional items required. The Government will award either Group A or Group B, not both. Group A, CLIN 1: Base Year (April 1 December 31, 1998) -- Provide space segment at 64 kbps, including price to repoint antennae and reprogram transmitters, if necessary. Group A, CLIN 2: Option Year 1 (January 1 -- December 31, 1999) -- Provide space segment at 64 kbps. Group A, CLIN 3: Option Year 2 (January 1 -- December 31, 2000) -- Provide space segment at 64 kbps. Group A, CLIN 4: Option Year 3 (January 1 -- December 31, 2001) -- Provide space segment at 64 kbps. Group A, CLIN 5: Option Year 4 (January 1 -- December 31, 2002) -- Provide space segment at 64 kbps. Group B, CLIN 6: Base Year (April 1 -- December 31, 1998) -- Provide space segment at 128 kbps, including price to repoint antennae (if necessary) and reprogram equipment to transmit and receive 128 kbps signal. Group B, CLIN 7: Option Year 1 (January 1 -- December 31, 1999) -- Provide space segment at 128 kbps. Group B, CLIN 8: Option Year 2 (January 1 -- December 31, 2000) -- Provide space segment at 128 kbps. Group B, CLIN 9: Option Year 3 (January 1 -- December 31, 2001) -- Provide space segment at 128 kbps. Group B, CLIN 10: Option Year 4 (January 1 December 31, 2002) -- Provide space segment at 128 kbps. (0037)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0034 19980210\D-0005.SOL)