U.S. Department of Energy, Oakland Operations Office, 1301 Clay Street, Room 700N, Oakland, CA 94612-5208

B -- LEGAL SUPPORT FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS DIVISION (IPLD) POC Art Lindsey, Contract Specialist,(510)637-1881, Fax(510)637-2004 In accordance with FAR Part 12, this announcement is to provide notice that the Intellectual Property Law Division (IPLD) of the U.S. Department of Energy, Oakland Operations Office, will negotiate and issue a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) with a number of firms or individuals licensed to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to provide intellectual property (IP) related legal services. Patent Attorneys and Patent Agents are invited to respond. These services are primarily in the areas of drafting patent applications for filing with the USPTO and prosecution of patent applications before the USPTO but may include assisting the IPLD in a wide range of IP related issues. IPLD intends to establish a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) with several offers. Under the BPA, the Government is not obligated to place any work request with the vendor (in this case a vendor of IP legal services) and the vendor is not obligated to respond with a bid to any work request. The Government is not obligated to accept any bids. The BPA is not enforceable against either party. A contract is executed when a vendor's estimate for a work order under the BPA is accepted in writing by the Government. For example, under a BPA, if a work order is issued, for the preparation of a patent application suitable for filing with the USPTO, IPLD will send an invention disclosure and supporting materials to one or more vendors. The vendors response will address the following criteria: (1) price to draft the patent application, (2) the estimated time to complete the work, and (3) the vendor's expertise in the technology or area of the work order. If a vendor chooses to submit a bid for the work order, IPLD will evaluate the bid(s) based on he criteria stated above. The relative importance of the criteria will be determined for each work order. If a bid from one or more vendor meets IPLD's requirements, IPLD will select one of the vendors for the work order. If during performance of the work order, the scope of the patent application is determined to be greater than anticipated by IPLD and the vendor, the work order will be justified and adjusted to account for the increased cost due to the increased scope. Interested vendors should provide a notice of interest and firm resume or qualifications statement to Art Lindsey by Fax number stated above or E-mail address stated below. Both large business and small business vendors are encouraged to respond. It is anticipated that BPA's will be issued to vendors located within the Northern California geographic area; however, vendors located in other areas will also be considered. The Solicitation will be issued on or about August 25, 1997 and will include the BPA Terms and Conditions, Evaluation Criteria, and a Sample Work Order.E-mail address: art.lindsey@oak.doe.gov (0225)

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