SOLICITATION NOTICE
B -- SPECIAL STUDIES AND ANALYSES OF AGRICULTURAL PILOT PROGRAMS
- Notice Date
- 11/20/2002
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, Procurement Operations Branch, 381 Elden St, MS2510, Herndon, VA 20170
- ZIP Code
- 20170
- Solicitation Number
- 1435-04-03-RP-70088
- Archive Date
- 1/17/2003
- Point of Contact
- RICHARD P. BOLICK, CONTRACT SPECIALIST, 703-787-1395, RICHARD.BOLICK@MMS.GOV
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE NOTICE CAREFULLY, AS IT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY NOTICE THAT WILL BE ISSUED. This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Federal Acquisition Regulations Subpart 12.6 and the provisions of Subpart 13.5, Test Program for Certain Commercial Items, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a separate written solicitation will not be issued. The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2002-09. The following provisions and clauses apply to this acquisition and are incorporated by reference: 1) 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial; 2) 52.212-3, Offeror, Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items; 3) 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items, with an addendum; and 4) 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items. Solicitation Number 1435-04-03-RP-70088 applies; the solicitation is issued as a request for proposals (RFP). BACKGROUND: In 1998 and 1999 the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC), established several pilot programs to evaluate crop yield and cost-incurrence coverage for limited resource farmers of certain food crops, among them cultivated wild rice, sweet potatoes, cherries and winter squash. The USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) is seeking program evaluations for four of these pilot programs, to be used to determine whether the programs should be continued as pilot programs, modified, terminated, or converted to permanent programs. This solicitation consists of four line items. Prospective Offerors may propose on more than one line item, but each line item must be proposed separately. ITEM 1. Cultivated Wild Rice Pilot Evaluation. This project is for a program evaluation that includes a Feedback and Issues Report, a Rating and Pricing Report, and a Final Evaluation Report. The evaluation will be used to determine if the program should be continued as a pilot, modified, terminated, or converted to a permanent program. The Board of Directors of the FCIC approved the pilot program effective for the 1999 crop year. The Cultivated Wild Rice program is a yield guarantee program that is based on the actual production history (APH) of the insured. The program provides coverage against damage due to adverse weather conditions, fire, insects, wildlife, earthquake, volcanic eruption, failure of irrigation water supply, and plant disease. ITEM 2. Cherry Pilot Evaluation. This project is for a program evaluation that includes hard copy reports and oral presentations on the results of a comprehensive review of the cherry pilot program. The evaluation will be used to determine if the program should be continued as a pilot, modified, terminated, or converted to a permanent program. The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation's Board of Directors approved the pilot program on August 11, 1998 for selected counties in California, Montana, Oregon and Washington effective for the 1999 crop year. The program was approved for expansion on July 27, 1999 to include new counties in Michigan and Utah. To further expand the pilot, the program was approved for expansion into additional counties in California, Oregon and Washington effective for the 2000 crop year. RMA has received grower requests for program expansion into San Benito and Santa Clara Counties, California. ITEM 3. Sweet Potato Pilot Evaluation. This project is for a program evaluation that includes hard copy reports and oral presentations on the results of a comprehensive review of the Sweet potato pilot program. The first phase of the evaluation was to collect information from sweet potato producers and others interested in the pilot program. This phase of the evaluation was completed under a separate contract and the information is provided in a Feedback and Issues Report. Issues identified in the Feedback and Issues Report should be considered in the completion of this project. The evaluation will be used to determine if the program should be continued as a pilot, modified, terminated, or converted to a permanent program. FCIC's Board of Directors approved the pilot program effective for the 1998 crop year for selected counties in Alabama, California, Louisiana, North Carolina and South Carolina. The sweet potato program is an APH plan that uses producers' actual records of planted acres, production, and harvest of sweet potatoes grading California Number 1, California Medium, California Jumbo in California, and Jumbo, United States Extra Number 1, Commercial and Number 2 in all other states. These aforementioned grades are used to establish the insurance guarantee. The program provides coverage against damage due to adverse weather, fire, insects, wildlife, earthquake, volcanic eruption, failure of irrigation water supply, and plant disease. ITEM 4. Winter Squash Pilot Evaluation. This project is for a program evaluation that includes hard copy reports and oral presentations on the results of a comprehensive review of the winter squash pilot program. The evaluation will be used to determine if the program should be continued as a pilot, modified, terminated, or converted to a permanent program. The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation's Board of Directors approved the pilot program for the 1999 crop year for winter types of squash in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York and expanded the program to pumpkins in New York and Pennsylvania for the 2000 crop year. The winter squash program is a dollar amount of insurance plan based on average pre-harvest costs per acre that producers can expect to incur during the growing season. The program provides protection against damage due to adverse weather, fire, insects, wildlife, earthquake, volcanic eruption, failure of irrigation water supply and plant disease. OBJECTIVE. The primary objective of these requirements is to secure the services of technical experts who will provide RMA with the necessary information and resources to determine if the pilot programs should be continued as pilots, modified, terminated, or converted to permanent programs. SCOPE OF WORK. For each Line Item except Number 3 - Sweet Potato Pilot Evaluation, the contractor(s) shall perform the following tasks that are described in greater detail in the SOW Documents, and meet the standards for successful accomplishment: (A) Conduct listening sessions; (B) Compile and analyze results of the listening sessions into interim Feedback and Issues Reports on a state basis; (C) Produce a final Feedback and Issues Report for review by RMA subject matter experts that compiles and summarizes the results of the interim state reports; (D) Provide a Rating and Pricing Evaluation Report that evaluates the rating and pricing of the programs; (E) Provide a Final Evaluation Report that evaluates the program and provides recommendations on its future status. (Tasks A, B and C have already been accomplished for the Sweet Potato Pilot Evaluation through an earlier contract. The Final Feedback and Issues Report from that contract shall be made available on request to prospective Offerors for this Line Item.) Offeror(s) shall include quality control standards for the successful accomplishment of the tasks, a method to monitor and report task progress, corrective actions to be taken to meet deliverable dates if tasks are off schedule, and a quality control matrix of the productive hours for each skill type that will be devoted to quality control on each. FOR AN ELECTRONIC COPY OF THE COMPLETE SOWs FOR THIS RFP, PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL REQUEST TO richard.bolick@mms.gov. Please include with your request your full name, the RFP number & title, your organization, complete address with telephone and fax numbers. Period of Performance varies from Item to Item, but is generally in the range of nine months. See specific SOW documents for details. HOW TO RESPOND: In order to compete for these contracts, interested parties must demonstrate that they are qualified to perform the work by providing, by 3:00 P.M., EST, December 11, 2002, a CAPABILITIES STATEMENT detailing: (1) your key personnel (those who would have primary responsibility for performing and/or managing the effort, including subcontractors) with their qualifications and specific experience; (2) your organizational experience and facilities; and (3) past performance including specific references (include contract number & project description, period of performance, dollar amount, client identification with the point of contact & telephone number) for previous work of this nature that your key personnel or organization has performed within the last two years. References will be checked. Capabilities Statements will be evaluated based on; (i) key personnel skills, abilities and experience; (ii) your organization's experience and (iii) past performance (including number, size, and complexity of similar projects), adherence to schedules and budgets, effectiveness of program management, willingness to cooperate when difficulties arise, general compliance with the terms of the contracts, and acceptability of delivered products. Submit your Capability Statement in seven hard copies, plus one electronic copy on CD or diskette in MS Word format to the MMS POC at DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR, MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE, MS 2500, 381 ELDEN STREET, HERNDON, VIRGINIA 20170, ATTENTION: RICHARD P. BOLICK. Following review of all Capability Statements, organizations judged to have the past experience, organizational capabilities and key personnel to perform the work will be invited to give an oral technical presentation and provide a written proposal. The oral presentation will be a one-hour discussion of the offeror's plan for performing the work, plus a question and answer session afterward, wherein the government will query the offeror on its proposed plan and capabilities. PRESENTATIONS WILL BE SCHEDULED THE WEEK OF JANUARY 13, 2003, EITHER AT THE RMA OFFICES IN KANSAS CITY OR VIA VIDEO CONFERENCE. NOTIFICATION OF EXACT TIME, DATE, MEDIUM AND LOCATION WILL BE SUPPLIED BY JANUARY 3, 2003. Written offers are to consist of (A) A TECHNICAL PROPOSAL that includes: (1) Discussion of the background, objectives, and work requirements of the statement of work as analyzed by the Offeror; (2) Discussion of proposed methods and techniques for completing each task; (3) Discussion which supports how each task will be evaluated for full performance and acceptability of work from the Offeror's viewpoint. (4) Discussion of any anticipated major difficulties and problem areas, along with potential recommended approaches for their resolution. The Technical Proposal has a Page Limit of forty (40) pages. Any documentation in excess of the forty (40) page limit will not be evaluated. (B) A COST PROPOSAL, which shall be a separate volume from the written portion of the Technical Proposal. The Cost Proposal shall clearly indicate the proposed labor categories, hours, and rates for this effort. The Government anticipates that a FIRM-FIXED-PRICE order will be issued as a result of this RFP. (C) The completed OFFEROR REPRESENTATIONS AND CERTIFICATIONS-COMMERCIAL ITEMS per FAR subpart 52.212. EVALUATION. Please see the specific SOW document for each Line Item for the evaluation criteria and proposal preparation instructions. CONTRACT AWARD. Contract award(s) shall be made to the responsible Offeror(s) whose offer(s), in conforming to this RFP, provides an overall best value to the Government, technical evaluation factors and cost considered. The Government's objective is to obtain the highest technical quality considered necessary to achieve the project objectives, with a realistic and reasonable cost. Technical evaluation factors are more important than cost; however, between proposals that are evaluated as technically equal in quality, cost will become a major consideration in selecting the successful Offeror. Please submit seven (7) hard copy offers plus one electronic copy on CD in MS Word and/or Excel format to the following address. FINAL PROPOSALS ARE DUE BY 3:00 PM JANUARY 31, 2003, AT DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR, MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE, MS 2500, 381 ELDEN STREET, HERNDON, VIRGINIA 20170, ATTENTION: RICHARD P. BOLICK. Please note that MMS/GovWorks is located in a secure building. If offers are hand delivered, please ensure that the courier is instructed to use the courtesy phone in the rear of the lobby (to the right of the elevators) to call the Branch on extension 1354. A staff member will meet the courier to receive the submittal. Questions should be sent via fax or Email as soon as possible, but in any event no later than January 7, 2003, to: Richard P. Bolick, Fax (703) 787-1009 or Email: richard.bolick @mms.gov. Please include with your question(s) your full name, this RFP number & title, your organization, complete address with telephone and fax numbers. TELEPHONIC QUESTIONS OR REQUESTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. The referenced provisions and clauses can be viewed at www.arnet.gov <http://www.arnet.gov/> .
- Place of Performance
- Address: USDA/Risk Management Agency, Research & Evaluation Division, 6501 Beacon Drive, Kansas City, MO
- Zip Code: 64133
- Country: US
- Zip Code: 64133
- Record
- SN00208281-W 20021122/021120213433 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
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