Nbacc Ffrdc   2

The Department of Homeland Security has issued HSHQDC-15-R-00050, a full and open competitive Request for Proposals (RFP), in accordance with FAR 6.102(b), for a Contractor to operate and manage the National Biodefense Analysis Countermeasures Center (NBACC) Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) that is located at Fort Detrick, Maryland. In addition, as specified in the Statement of Work in Section C of the solicitation, the Contractor will also be required to provide a wide range of research studies, analyses, analytic and computational models, simulations, and other analytic support useful to policy and program planning management by its Sponsors.

The Government anticipates that the type of contract that will be used for this requirement will be a hybrid cost-reimbursement contract consisting of Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee (CPFF) and Cost-Plus-Award-Fee (CPAF) line items.

The proposed contract will also include Indefinite-Delivery-Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) type line items for the Work-For-Others (WFO) and/or Analytic Tasks Programs. These line items will allow for the Government to issue CPFF (either completion or term type) for the performance of specific work sent to DHS from other Federal agencies.

The basic contract consists of a one-year base period and four traditional one-year option periods. For this requirement, the Government has also elected to add five earnable Award-Term incentive periods to provide a positive non-monetary incentive to the successful Contractor to earn five additional years of contract term for exemplary performance.

The Government has conducted extensive market research and determined that there were no small businesses capable of operating and managing the NBACC facility and its associated technical requirements. The Government issued a Request for Information (RFI) on January 24, 2014 for market research purposes to determine the interest and capability of Small Business to participate in this acquisition. Of the four responses to the RFI, three responses were from large business, non-profit organizations and one response was from a large business concern. The Government's evaluation of the RFI responses indicated that all were capable of performing the technical requirements for this acquisition and it was recommended that the procurement for the management and operations of the NBACC FFRDC be issued as a Full and Open Competitive solicitation. The DHS Office of Procurement Operations Small Business Specialist reviewed the RFI analysis and concurred with the decision that this requirement not to be set-aside for small business for this effort.

This will be a competitive best value trade-off source selection conducted in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 15, as supplemented by the Homeland Security Acquisition Regulation (HSAR). The Government will award the contract to the Offeror who is deemed responsible in accordance with FAR Part 9, as supplemented, whose proposal conforms to the solicitation's requirements and is determined by the Government, based on this solicitation, to be the BEST VALUE to the Government. Proposals will be evaluated in accordance with the specific methodology and evaluation criteria that are set forth in Section M of the solicitation. General instructions are contained in Section L of the solicitation.
The solicitation will be posted on the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website at https://www.fbo.gov under Opportunities as solicitation number HSHQDC-15-R-00050 on March 16, 2015. The Government will not distribute hard-copy solicitations or amendments. All information concerning this solicitation, including any subsequent amendments, will be communicated via the Governmental Portal of Entry (GPE) (FBO website). The Government strongly encourages all prospective vendors to thoroughly review the RFP in order to gain a complete understanding of the requirements, terms, and conditions for this acquisition. Prospective offerors are responsible for checking the FBO website early and periodically for amendments. Prospective offerors should not expect notification that an amendment has been issued as the website is occasionally down for maintenance. The Government is not responsible for any loss of Internet connectivity of for an Offeror's inability to access the document posted on FBO. Telephone and facsimile requests will not be honored.
It is requested that all questions on this RFP be emailed to the Procuring Contracting Officer, using the format provided in Attachment 20 (Bidder's Question Submittal Form) of the solicitation no later than 2:00 PM (1400 hours) EDT on April 16, 2015. It is the Government's intention to release non-proprietary questions and responses via the FBO website. Information provided with each question should include the document name, document date, specific page, paragraph, clause or other definitive citation requiring clarification. Offerors shall use sequential numbering when providing their questions to the Government. Duplicate or similar questions may be consolidated, with a single response provided by the Government.

Proposals in response to the final RFP are due to the Procuring Contracting Officer no later than 2:00 PM EDT on May 19, 2015. Proposals are to be submitted electronically submitted to the Procuring Contracting Officer in accordance with the instructions contained in Section L of the RFP. Late proposals, modification, and withdrawals will be treated in accordance with Section L FAR Clause 52.215-1-Instructions to Offerors-Competitive Acquisition. All responsible sources may submit a proposal, which shall be considered by the agency.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR PROSPECTIVE OFFERORS-registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) database will be a prerequisite for receiving an award. For more information on SAM, refer to the SAM website at https://www.sam.gov.