MODIFICATION
R -- Docketing, Tracking, Payment and Reporting of Annuities related to Foreign Patents
- Notice Date
- 3/3/2006
- Notice Type
- Modification
- NAICS
- 541110
— Offices of Lawyers
- Contracting Office
- Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Acquisition and Property Division, Acquisition Branch (MD), 5601 Sunnyside Avenue, Building 3, Mailstop: 5116, Beltsville, MD, 20705
- ZIP Code
- 20705
- Solicitation Number
- 063K06007
- Response Due
- 3/9/2006
- Archive Date
- 3/24/2006
- Description
- 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 is a Request For Proposals (RFP). This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. This solicitation (RFP 06-3K06-007) is hereby issued as a request for proposal (RFP). A sources sought was posted for this requirement under number 05-3K06-083 and is replaced with RFP 06-3K06-007. This solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-08. This solicitation is being issued as full and open competition. The applicable NAICS code is 541110 and size standard for this requirement is $6 Million. All responsible sources may submit a proposal which will be considered by the agency. Amendment 08- Provides the following: 1. RFP Section IV.C.2 is revised to add ?Offerors shall discuss how they intend to maintain customer satisfaction. Described how multiple priorities and complex problems will be resolved to maintain customer satisfaction on projects with a similar case load to. 2. Provides additional instructions in BOLD at IV.C.3.c. Instructions for Submission of Business/Price Proposals as follows: c. A Firm-Fixed Price for each line item in the Price Schedule in Section I.A. Offerors will not be compensated separately for converting the government provided ?Word? database file of current cases into the offeror?s already established computerized system. Offeror?s electing to charge for that service shall identify the charges and the line item the cost has been included. 3. Provides additonal evaluation criteria at IV.C.4. Evaluation Commerical Item (1) Evaluation Criteria - is revised to add the information in BOLD.- a. FACTOR 1-Technical Approach - An established computerized docketing, tracking, and payment system is a requirement. Offerors shall be evaluated on their ability to implement and execute a computerized docketing, tracking, and payment system with the capabilities to calculate and administer different country-by-country patent regulations in regards to the payment of annuities, taxes, and maintenance fees. This also includes knowledge of and the ability to comply with applicable laws and legal authorities of the country in which the taxes, annuity payment or work is being performed. Offerors will be evaluated on how well multiple priorities and complex problems that resulted from a similar case load were resolved to provide customer satisfaction. Safeguards in place to verify data accuracy and ensure no annuities are missed are a requirement. 4. Provides a copy of sample questions that will be discussed with offorer?s references. PAST PERFORMANCE EVALUATION Services A. GENERAL INFORMATION. CONTRACT NO: CONTRACTOR: CONTRACT TYPE: AWARD DATE: TITLE/DESCRIPTION: NO. OF OPTIONS NO OF WORK FORCE TOTAL EST. MAX. VALUE TOTAL AWARD AMOUNT TO DATE CONTRACT COMPLETION DATE (INCLUDING OPTIONS): ORGANIZATION/ADDRESS: CONTACT NAME: TITLE: TELEPHONE NO: FAX: B. SPECIFIC QUESTIONS. The following questions are broken into 2 groups: YES/NO type and RATING type. The YES/NO questions are self explanatory and should be supplemented with explanatory narrative if answered "YES". On the RATING questions, choose the number on the scale of 1 to 5 which most accurately describes the contractor's performance. If the question is not applicable, circle "N/A". the scale of 1 to 5 represents the following descriptive values: 1 2 3 4 5 Unsatisfactory Marginal Satisfactory Good Excellent 1. Contractor's responsiveness/timeliness related to the requirements of the Government 1 2 3 4 5 N/A PRODUCTION/ MANAGEMENT 2. Contractor's compliance with contractual terms and conditions 1 2 3 4 5 N/A If any noncompliance, contractor's effectiveness in improving on such issues 1 2 3 4 5 N/A 3. Contractor's ability to identify and resolve problems in: a) Management (relative to the contract)1 2 3 4 5 N/A b) Planning (Phase-In and Post-Award)1 2 3 4 5 N/A c) Quality Control (TQM) 1 2 3 4 5 N/A d) Scheduling 1 2 3 4 5 N/A 4. Contractor's responsiveness/timeliness relative to administrative functions of the contract1 2 3 4 5 N/A 5. Contractor's ability to incorporate changes in work priorities 1 2 3 4 5 N/A 6. Contractor's ability to meet the terms of the contract within the contractually agreed price 1 2 3 4 5 N/A 7. Contractor's exhibited knowledge of and compliance with US and Foreign Government regulations 1 2 3 4 5 N/A 8. Have there been any violations of US or Foreign Laws or regulations. YES NO If Yes, Explain: QUALITY 9. Contractor's ability to meet the quality standards specified by: a) Technical Performance 1 2 3 4 5 N/A b) Administration of Contract 1 2 3 4 5 N/A c) Budget Controls 1 2 3 4 5 N/A 10. Were there any changes made due to the Contractor's inability to meet technical requirements and/or cost schedules YES NO 11. Has an Unsatisfactory Performance Report or equivalent ever been issued YES NO 12. Has a Cure Notice ever been issued? YES NO 13. Has a Show Cause Letter ever been issued? YES NO 14. To your knowledge, has the contractor had contract terminated for default YES NO 15. Has your organization ever elected to not exercise an option due to poor performance? YES NO SAFETY 16. Contractor's compliance with Federal, State, local and Foreign safety regulations. 1 2 3 4 5 N/A GENERAL 17. Have there been any disputes/claims relative to the contract YES NO 18. Have there been any indications that the contractor has had any financial problems?YES NO 19. Have there been any safety violations/accidents? YES NO 20. Contractor's overall cooperation relative to this contract 1 2 3 4 5 N/A 21. How would you rate the contractor's overall performance 1 2 3 4 5 N/A 22. Would you award similar contracts to this contractor YES NO 23. Rate contractor's phase-in 1 2 3 4 5 N/A Briefly describe the contractor's predominate STRENGTHS and/or WEAKNESSES: Please list any references you might know regarding the contractor's performance: 5. Block #11 has missing instruction on all previous SF30s. SF30 for amendment 08 can be used to identify the instructions in all previous SF30?s issued. 6. Responses to questions received are as follows: 6.1 Who is the incumbent? Has their performance been satisfactory? Response: The incumbent is Computer Packages, Inc. I can not release information on another contractor's performance. 6.2 How much of the work has to be done on site? Response: The work is not performed at our site. 6.3 Are there sample reports available for those that are required? Are there other sample reports that may be desired? Do all reports have to be in paper - or can queries be provided via a secure web site? Response: No sample reports. The fedbizopps posting identified all our required reports. Offerors must tell us how they will provide reports. 6.4 What is the present form of the database of patents? Who has been updating it? Is it certified as accurate? Response: The contractor responsible for maintaining the database. The database file is in ?Word? format. 6.5 What is the format of the docket from the lawyers? Response: The docket from our lawyers is in WORD format. 6.6 The quality form indicates "client complaints". Who is the client? Response: The client is the COR, our attorneys, could be scientists. 6.7 Does contract expect the contractor to prepay any fees with follow on reimbursements? If so, is there an interest fee calculated if the payments from the government are not timely? Response: Yes. For interest, see FAR Part 32.614-32.616 and clause 52.232-17. According to The Federal Contracts Report the US Treasury Dept is allowed under the Prompt Payment Act and Contract Disputes Act a 4.5 interest rate for the reporting period ending in December 2005. 6.8 Are the fees associated with the wire transfers recoverable? Or are they expected to be included in the price quoted? Response: Your question is not clear. The payment of annuities and taxes are paid out of the NTE line item. All other cost must be included in the other line items. 6.9 There would be 2 receipts: one for the wire transfer; one from the foreign PTO for the fee. We'd need to handle both. Is that correct? Response: Yes, contractor handles all receipts. 6.10 Who is responsible for currency exchange, and potential currency exchange losses? Response: The contractor is responsible. 6.11 I would like some clarification on the NTE amounts do these represent the amount of annuity fees to be paid by the contractor initially and reimbursed by the government? Response: The NTEA is to cover the cost of annuity payments and taxes. It is what the government is estimating those costs to be. The Contractor will make the payments and will be reimbursed by the government for actual cost incurred for that line item. 6.12 Can you identify any of the case numbers for the foreign cases to be renewed? Response: The case load is identified under "estimated quantity". Please clarify you question. If you are asking for case numbers to foreign patents currently being processed, please provide an explanation as to how this information will assist in developing your offer. I do not currently have that information. 6.13 This is a full and open competition with a size standard of $6 Million. Does this mean you have to be a business doing about $6 Million worth of sales each year? Response: The size standard was changed in amendment 6 to $6.5. This means the firm's earnings can not exceed $6.5 million dollars over a three year period. The NAICS Code website should have a telephone number for contractors to call for assistance. 6.14 We were asking for an extension of the due date. Response: There will be no extension to the proposal due date. Offerors were given 37 days to submit offers. The FAR requires only 30 days. 6.15 What is the present form of the database of patents? The information about the patents and payments are presently in some kind of electronic format. What is it? Response: The database or electronic format is in ?Word?. 6.16 Form 1449: On items 23 and 24, are you asking for cost per case(Unit price) and total cost ( Amount) = cost per case X estimated number of cases ? Response: You do not have to put anything in block 23 of the SF1449. That information goes in Section IA Price Schedule. Item 24 is self explanatory. It is the total cost for each period identified in block 20. 6.17 Item 27a. Refers to attached documents. Are these the SF 30 forms? Response: Item 27a on the SF1449 refers to the clauses in the RFP which was posted in amendments 2 and 5 of the combined synopsis and solicitation. The full text of the clause can be found by accessing the FAR website, which is referenced in the solicitation posted. 6.18 SF 30 forms: Looks like part of item 11 is cut off on all forms. Also, which items need to be filled out by us on these forms? Response: Offerors can use the SF30 for amendment 8 to view the instructions noted in block 11. Just follow the instructions on the SF30 that apply to the ?Contractor?. SF30 for amendment 09 is not up loadable. Send an email to request copies of the SF30 which requires the return of one (1) signed copy with the offer. Copies will be emailed to you once your email address is received. All other terms and conditions remains unchanged.
- Place of Performance
- Address: USDA/ARS/OTT, 5601 Sunnyside Avenue, Beltsville, Maryland
- Zip Code: 20705 5131
- Country: USA
- Zip Code: 20705 5131
- Record
- SN00999437-W 20060305/060303213434 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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