COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION

Longline fishery gear testing trials including testing a fighting line device for NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands Region

(I) 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 and in accordance with the simplified acquisition procedures authorized in FAR Part 13. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotes are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued.

(II) This solicitation is issued as a request for quotation (RFQ). Submit written quotes on RFQ Number NF-FT7000-23-02942.

(III) The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2023-04 JUN 2023 Deviation 2023-03 DEC 2022.

(IV) This solicitation is being issued as a total Small Business Set-Aside. The associated NAICS code is 541990. The small business size standard is $19.5M.

(V) This combined solicitation/synopsis is for purchase of the following commercial services:

Line Item 0001 – Services, non-personal, to provide all labor, equipment and materials (unless otherwise provided herein) necessary for longline fishery gear testing trials including testing a fighting line device for NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands Region for a period of 12 months.

(VI) Description of requirements is as follows:

Longline fishery gear testing trials including testing a fighting line device for NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands Region. See attached Performance Work Statement for full details.

(VII) Date(s) and place(s) of delivery and acceptance

Period of performance: September 30, 2023 to September 29, 2024

(VIII) FAR 52.212-1, INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS – COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS AND COMMERCIAL SERVICES (MAR 2023), applies to this acquisition.

NOTICE TO OFFERORS: Instructions for submitting quotations under this request for quote must be followed. Failure to provide all information to aid in the evaluation may be considered non-responsive. Offers that are non-responsive may be excluded from further evaluation and rejected without further notification to the offeror.

1. Email quotes are required and shall be sent to Stephanie.Fisher@noaa.gov.

2. Offeror shall have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM found at https://sam.gov/content/home) in order to provide a quote and be eligible for award. Must provide their Unique Entity ID/CAGE CODE with their quote.

3. Offerors shall assume that the Government has no prior knowledge of them or their capability.

4. Offerors must provide all items requested in FAR 52.212-2. Offerors who do not provide all evaluation criteria will not be accepted.

• The Offeror’s overall technical approach will be evaluated to assess the Governments level of confidence in the Offeror’s understanding of, approach to, and ability to successfully perform the requirements as described in the Performance Work Statement. Provide a detailed description of the company’s experience performing similar services. A detailed technical approach write-up describing how the Offeror will perform this service is required to be submitted with the quote. The technical approach write-up must not be a reiteration of the Performance Work Statement but how your company plans on performing the tasks listed in the attached Performance Work Statement.

• The Offerors past performance on related contracts will be evaluated to determine, as appropriate, successful performance of contract requirements, quality and timeliness of delivery of goods and services, cost management, communications between contracting parties, proactive management and customer satisfaction. The Government will use its discretion to determine the sources of past performance information used in the evaluation, and the information may be obtained from references provided by the Offeror, the agency’s knowledge of Offeror performance, other government agencies or commercial entities, or past performance databases, and will be based on responsiveness, quality, and customer services. Quote shall include at least one reference for similar and relevant services including the phone number, full address, and e-mail address.

(IX) FAR 52.212-2, EVALUATION- COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS AND COMMERCIAL SERVICES (NOV 2021), applies to this acquisition. Offers will be evaluated based on price and the factors set forth in paragraph (a).

The evaluation will consider the Non-Price Technical Solution (Technical Approach and Past Performance) to be significantly more important than price. However, as quotes are determined to be more equal in the non-price evaluation factor, price becomes more important and may become the determining factor for award. If, at any stage of the evaluation, all Offerors are determined to have submitted equal, or virtually equal, Non-Price Technical Solutions, price could become the factor in determining which Offeror will receive the award.

The Government intends to evaluate the quotes and award a purchase order based on the Offeror’s initial quote; therefore, the Offeror’s initial quote should contain the Offeror’s best terms from a Non-Price Technical Solution and price standpoint.

The Government reserves the right not to award a purchase order depending on the quality of the quote(s) submitted and the availability of funds. Furthermore, the Government may waive informalities and minor irregularities or omissions in quotes received.

The Government may make award to other than the lowest-priced Offeror or the Offeror with the highest technical rating if the Contracting Officer determines that to do so would result in the best value to the Government. The Government will not make an award at a significantly higher overall price to achieve only slightly superior performance capability.

(a) The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers:

1. Technical Approach and Capability. The Offeror’s overall technical approach will be evaluated to assess the Governments level of confidence in the Offeror’s understanding of, approach to, and ability to successfully perform the requirements as described in the Statement of Work. Provide a detailed description of the company’s experience performing similar services. A detailed technical approach write-up describing how the Offeror will perform this service is required to be submitted with the quote. The technical approach write-up must not be a reiteration of the Performance Work Statement but how your company plans on performing the tasks listed in the attached Performance Work Statement.

2. Past Performance. The Offerors past performance on related contracts will be evaluated to determine, as appropriate, successful performance of contract requirements, quality and timeliness of delivery of goods and services, cost management, communications between contracting parties, proactive management and customer satisfaction. The Government will use its discretion to determine the sources of past performance information used in the evaluation, and the information may be obtained from references provided by the Offeror, the agency’s knowledge of Offeror performance, other government agencies or commercial entities, or past performance databases, and will be based on responsiveness, quality, and customer services. Quote shall include at least one reference for similar and relevant services including the phone number, full address, and e-mail address.

Offerors lacking relevant past performance history, or for whom past performance information is either not available or has not been submitted to the Government, will receive a neutral rating for past performance.

3. Price. The Government will evaluate the price quote for completeness and reasonableness in relation to the RFQ requirements. Quoted prices must be entirely compatible with the Non-Price Technical Solution.

The Government intends to award a best value trade-off, firm fixed-price purchase order on an all or none basis with payment terms of Net 30.

(b) Options. The Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. The Government may determine that an offer is unacceptable if the option prices are significantly unbalanced. Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s).

(c) 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.

(End of provision)

"THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR NON-RECEIPT OF QUOTES. IT IS THE OFFERORS RESPONSIBILITY TO REQUEST AND RECEIVE A CONFIRMATION OF THE QUOTE RECEIPT".

CAM 1352.215-72 INQUIRIES (APR 2010)

OFFERORS MUST SUBMIT ALL QUESTIONS CONCERNING THIS SOLICITATION IN WRITING VIA EMAIL TO stephanie.fisher@noaa.gov. QUESTIONS SHOULD BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN 5:00PM EST, 8/23/2023. Any responses to questions will be made in writing, without identification of the questioner, and will be included in an amendment to the solicitation. Even if provided in other form, only the question responses included in the amendment to the solicitation will govern performance of the contract.

(End of clause)

See attached for the full Combined Synopsis/Solicitation and Performance Work Statement (PWS)

Attachments/Links