R499--Ragan Communications Leadership Council Membership

Active

Contract Opportunity

Request for Quote (RFQ) #: 36C25924Q0368
Ragan Communications Leadership Council Membership Brand Name or Equal
Small Business Set-Aside

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. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotes are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. The Government reserves the right to make no award from this solicitation.

* The deadline for all questions is 10:00am MT, 05/01/2024
All questions must be submitted in writing no later than the question cut-off date marked above. All questions will be answered officially through an amendment to the solicitation.

** Quotes are to be provided to Noaa.Lanotte@va.gov no later than 10:00am MT, 05/09/2024.
Quotes shall not be hand carried. Faxed quotes shall not be accepted. Emailed quotes are the only method of submitted quotes (4MB email limit). The Government reserves the right to make award solely on initial Quotes received. Offerors bear the burden of ensuring that all portions of the offer (and any authorized amendments) reach the designated office before the deadline specified in the solicitation. This RFQ shall be completed in its entirety, and signed and dated, failure shall not be considered for award.

This is a Request for Quote (RFQ) and the solicitation number is 36C25924Q0368. The government anticipates awarding a firm-fixed price contract resulting from this solicitation.

This solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2024-03 effective February 23, 2024.

The North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 611430 with a small business size standard of $15.0 Million. This solicitation is set-aside for Small Businesses.

List of Line Items;

Line Item
Description
Quantity
Unit of Measure
Unit Price
Total Price
0001
Ragan Communications Leadership Council Membership per Salient Characteristics Listed in Section VI
Brand Name or Equal
EA
1
$
$


Grand Total
$
Description of Requirements to be acquired;
The contractor shall provide VISN 19 with one (1), 12-month communications leadership membership with VISN PAO Chief Communications Officer serving as the principal member. The membership shall include:

Minimum Requirements for the principal member:
Instant access to other senior leaders through an exclusive membership portal
10 hours of executive leadership, business fluency, strategic communications & content, international communications, and presentation skills coaching
Regular research and benchmarking reports
Quarterly collaboratives like DEI, healthcare, and international communications
Monthly networking and problem-solving calls Â
Additional Benefits Preferred:
Attendance at two member-only leadership retreats: All expenses at these member events are paid; all you do is get a flight.Â

Minimum Requirements for the whole enterprise team (up to 20 users) with a @va.gov email:
Ten group learning sessions led by the vendor, approximately 60 minutes, interactive, with a question and answer portion, focused on topics like.
Rebooting Company Culture
Manager Communications
Communicating Organizational Change
Crisis Management
Hybrid Communications / Dispersed Workforce
DEI for Communicators
Advanced Measurement for Internal Communications
Unlimited virtual registrations to all webinars, certificate courses, virtual summits, and all in-person conference recordings.
Unlimited access to the vendor s Concierge Service, to include:
Facilitate introductions to fellow communicators in industry
Research on employee engagement
Employee surveys
Crisis communications planning
Thought leadership
Employer branding
Long-term communications planning
Unlimited membership logins to sites similar in nature to Ragan Insider and Ragan Training.
Research surveys comparing views of CEOs and Communicators
Additional Benefits Preferred:
Four registrations to vendor-based conferences and workshops (plus discounts off any additional registrations)
Individual training sessions in graphic arts, digital media, video production, editing, and writing.
Two hours editing and proofing services per month.
Discount on custom workshops with the vendor and other Preferred Partners
Discount on all award submissions - Needs Description
Unlimited job postings on their hubÂ
52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors--Commercial Products and Commercial Services applies to this acquisition

ADDENDUM to FAR 52.212-1 INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS AND COMMERCIAL SERVICES

Gray market items are Original Equipment Manufacturer s (OEM) goods sold through unauthorized channels in direct competition with authorized distributors. This procurement is for new OEM medical supplies, medical equipment and/or services contracts for maintenance of medical equipment (i.e. replacement parts) for VA Medical Centers. No remanufactures or gray market items will be acceptable.

Offeror shall be an OEM, authorized dealer, authorized distributor or authorized reseller for the proposed medical supplies, medical equipment and/or services contracts for maintenance of medical equipment (i.e. replacement parts), verified by an authorization letter or other documents from the OEM, such that the OEM s warranty and service are provided and maintained by the OEM. All software licensing, warranty and service associated with the medical supplies, medical equipment and/or services contracts for maintenance of medical equipment shall be in accordance with the OEM terms and conditions.

The delivery of gray market items to the VA in the fulfillment of an order/award constitutes a breach of contract. Accordingly, the VA reserves the right enforce any of its contractual remedies. This includes termination of the contract or, solely at the VA s election, allowing the Vendor to replace, at no cost to the Government, any remanufactured or gray market item(s) delivered to a VA medical facility upon discovery of such items.

Any award made as a result of this solicitation will be made on an All or Nothing Basis.

Offerors providing an or equal product(s) must adhere to the terms in FAR 52.211-6. If an item in this solicitation is identified as brand name or equal, the purchase description reflects the characteristics and level of quality that will satisfy the Government s needs. The salient physical, functional, or performance characteristics that equal products must meet or exceed are specified in the solicitation. To be considered for award, offers of equal products, including equal products of the brand name manufacturer, must
Meet the salient physical, functional, or performance characteristic specified in this solicitation;
Clearly identify the item by-
Brand name, if any and
Make or model number,
Include descriptive literature such as illustrations, drawings, or a clear reference to previously furnished descriptive data or information available to the Contracting Officer; and
Clearly describe any modification the offeror plans to make in a product to make it conform to the solicitation requirements. Mark any descriptive material to clearly show the modification.

State if quoted items are available and priced through offerors existing Government-wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC), GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contract, or VA-wide Acquisition Contract.

Offerors are warned against contacting any VA personnel other than the Contracting Officer and Contract Specialist prior to placement of any award made resulting from this RFQ. If such contact occurs and found to be prejudicial to competing contactors, the offeror making such contact may be excluded from award considerations.

All proprietary information shall be clearly and properly marked. If the Offeror submits annexes, documentation, attachments or the like, not specifically required by this solicitation, such will count against the Offeror s page limitations unless otherwise indicated in the specific volume instructions below.

All information shall be confined to the appropriate file. The offeror shall confine submissions to essential matters, sufficient to define the quote and provide an adequate basis for evaluation. Offerors are responsible for including sufficient details, in a concise manner, to permit a complete and accurate evaluation of each quote.

Submission of quote shall include the following volumes: (I) - Technical Capability and (II) Price

Volume I - Technical Capability
The offeror shall submit a technical proposal, that describes the means and methods of successfully providing all requirements listed in Section VI. The offeror shall submit specifications, cut sheets, or brochures confirming the equal products, including equal products of the brand name manufacturer submitted, meets or exceeds the salient physical, functional, or performance characteristic specified in this solicitation.

Volume II Price
Price - The offeror shall complete the pricing schedule provided in Section (v) above: Price/Cost Schedule.

(End of Addendum to 52.212-1)

52.212-2, Evaluation Commercial Products and Commercial Services applies to this acquisition

ADDENDUM to FAR 52.212-2 EVALUATION COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS AND COMMERCIAL SERVICES:

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 considering price and other factors.

The following factors shall be used to evaluate quotations:

Factor 1. Technical Capability
Factor 2. Price

Evaluation Approach. The Government will evaluate quotations using the comparative evaluation process outlined in FAR 13.106-2(b)(3), where quotations will be compared to one another to determine which provides the best benefit to the Government. The Government reserves the right to consider a quotation other than the lowest price that provides additional benefit(s). Quotations may exceed minimum requirements of the solicitation. The Government reserves the right to select a quotation that provides benefit to the Government that exceeds the minimum requirements of the solicitation, but is not required to do so. Each response must meet the minimum requirements of the solicitation. The Government is not requesting or accepting alternate quotations. The evaluation will consider the following:

Factor 1. Technical Capability: The quotation will be evaluated to the extent to which it can meet and/or exceed the Government s requirements as outlined in the solicitation and based on the information requested in the instructions to quoters section of the solicitation.

Factor 2. Price: The Government will evaluate the price by adding the total of all line item prices. The Government may use various price analysis techniques and procedures to make a price reasonableness determination. Offers that do not meet or exceed the technical capability or quality of the item offered to the Government requirement shall not be selected regardless of price.

(End of Addendum to 52.212-2)

52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications Commercial Products and Commercial Services, applies to this acquisition. Offerors must complete annual representations and certifications electronically via the System for Award Management (SAM) website located at https://www.sam.gov/portal in accordance with FAR 52.212-3, Offerors Representations and Certifications Commercial Items. If paragraph (j) of the provision is applicable, a written submission is required. Offerors must be registered in SAM at time of offer submission.

52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions--Commercial Products and Commercial Services applies to this acquisition

52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders Commercial Products and Commercial Services (FEB 2024) applies to this acquisition

FAR 52.212-5 applies to this acquisition with the following FAR clauses incorporated by reference;

FAR 52.204-10
Reporting Executive Compensation & First-Tier Subcontract Awards (JUN 2020)
FAR 52.204-16
Commercial and Government Entity Code Reporting (AUG 2020)
FAR 52.204-24
Representation Regarding Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment (OCT 2020)
FAR 52.209-6
Protecting the Government s Interest When Subcontracting with Contractors Debarred, Suspended, or Proposed for Debarment (JUN 2020)
FAR 52.219-6
Notice of Total Small Business Set-Aside (NOV 2020)
FAR 52.219-28
Post Award Small Business Program Representation (NOV 2020)
FAR 52.222-3
Convict Labor (JUN 2003)
FAR 52.222-19
Child Labor Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies (JUL 2020)
FAR 52.222-21
Prohibition of Segregated Facilities (APR 2015)
FAR 52.222-26
Equal Opportunity (SEP 2016)
FAR 52.222-36
Equal Opportunity for Workers with Disabilities (JUN 2020)
FAR 52.222-50
Combating Trafficking in Persons (OCT 2020)
FAR 52.222-55
Minimum Wages for Contractor Workers Under Executive Order 14026 (JAN 2022)
FAR 52.222-62
Paid Sick Leave Under Executive Order 13706 (JAN 2022)
FAR 52.223-18
Encouraging Contractor Policies to Ban Text Messaging While Driving (JUN 2020)
FAR 52.225-3
Buy American--Supplies (OCT 2022)
FAR 52.225-13
Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases (JUN 2020)
FAR 52.232-33
Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer System for Award Management (Oct 2018)
Additional contract requirements or terms and conditions:

852.212-70, Provisions and Clauses Applicable to VA Acquisition of Commercial Items (Apr 2020)

VAAR 852.203-70
Commercial Advertising (MAY 2018)
VAAR 852.232-72
Electronic Submission of Payment Requests (NOV 2018)
VAAR 852.233-70
Protest Content/Alternative Dispute Resolution (OCT 2018)
VAAR 852.233-71
Alternate Protest Procedure (OCT 2018)
VAAR 852.246-71
Rejected Goods (OCT 2018)

852.252-70, Solicitation Provisions or Clauses Incorporated by Reference (Jan 2008)
The following provisions or clauses incorporated by reference in this solicitation must be completed by the offeror or prospective contractor and submitted with the quotation or offer. Copies of these provisions or clauses are available on the Internet at the web sites provided in the provision at FAR 52.252-1, Solicitation Provisions Incorporated by Reference, or the clause at FAR 52.252-2, Clauses Incorporated by Reference. Copies may also be obtained from the contracting officer.

http://www.acquisition.gov/far/index.html
https://www.acquisition.gov/vaar

The following FAR provisions are to be incorporated by reference:

FAR 52.204-7
System for Award Management (OCT 2018)
FAR 52.204-16
Commercial and Government Entity Code Reporting (AUG 2020)
FAR 52.211-6
Brand Name or Equal (AUG 1999)

The following VAAR provisions are to be incorporated by reference:

None

The following FAR clauses are incorporated by reference:

FAR 52.203-17
Contractor Employee Whistleblower Rights and Requirement to Inform Employees of Whistleblower Rights (NOV 2023)
FAR 52.204-13
System for Award Management Maintenance (OCT 2018)
FAR 52.204-18
Commercial and Government Entity Code Maintenance (AUG 2020)
FAR 52.232-40
Providing Accelerated Payments to Small Business Subcontractors (NOV 2021)

The following VAAR clauses are to be incorporated by reference:

VAAR 852.212-71
Gray Market and Counterfeit Items (FEB 2023)

The Defense Priorities and Allocations System (DPAS) does not apply.

Date and Time offers are due to Noaa.Lanotte@va.gov by 10:00am MT, 05/09/2024.

Name and email of the individual to contact for information regarding the solicitation:
Noaa Lanotte
Noaa.Lanotte@va.gov

Attachments/Links