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Contract Opportunity

(a) This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial services prepared in accordance with the format in Federal Acquisition Regulation (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.

(b) The solicitation number is 77344424Q0013. This solicitation is being issued as a request for quotations (RFQ) under the procedures of FAR Parts 12 and 13.

(c) The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2023-06.

(d) This acquisition is a total set-aside for small business concerns. The NAICS code is 541410 and the small business size standard is $9.0 million.

(e) Description.

(1) The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Office of Administration (OA) requires a contractor to provide the design, lease, and maintenance of interior plants at the DFC office located at 1100 New York Ave NW, Washington, DC 20527.

(2) Current services include interior plant lease and maintenance on the 7th and 12th floors of DFC’s office building. Plants include Zamioculcas zamiifolia (ZZ plants), orchids, and fiddle-leaf fig. All plants are leased. Under this new contract, DFC will expand these services to include two new floors of the building – the 6th and 9th floors – as well as additional plants to outfit specific locations. DFC is requesting prospective vendors to propose an interior plant arrangement design for DFC workspaces. DFC desires to maintain generally the same design and plant types that are currently in use on the 7th and 12th floors, although prospective vendors are encouraged to propose their own designs based on their assessment of DFC’s workspaces.

(3) DFC contemplates a single-award indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract and the first task order under this contract, for the base service, resulting from this solicitation. DFC’s intent in placing a single-award IDIQ contract is to fulfill the agency’s current and future needs for interior plant services in DFC’s workspaces.

(i) The base service task order, task order 1, includes the design, lease, and maintenance of interior plants in DFC’s workspaces on the 6th, 7th, 9th, and 12th floors of DFC’s office. This is the primary work under the contract.

(ii) Additional task orders may be placed under the parent IDIQ contract during the ordering period for additional ancillary services, including the design, lease, and maintenance of interior plants in additional workspaces; the design, lease, and maintenance of seasonal holiday plants, such as Christmas trees, wreaths, and poinsettias; and the design, lease, and maintenance of interior plants for special events and occasions.

(iii) Please see Attachment 1, IDIQ statement of work, and Attachment 2, Task order 1 statement of work.

(iv) IDIQ contract. The ordering period of the IDIQ contract shall be February 5, 2024, through February 4, 2029. Orders issued under this contract may be firm-fixed-price, time-and-materials, or labor-hour. DFC shall place orders totaling a minimum of $1,000.00 over the life of the contract, which will be met through task order 1. The maximum amount of all orders placed under this contract shall not exceed $150,000.00.

(v) Task order 1. The period of performance for task order 1, for the base service, shall also be five years, inclusive of a one-year base period (February 5, 2024, through February 4, 2025) and four, one-year option periods. The contract type shall be firm-fixed-price. The place of performance is the DFC office at 1100 New York Ave NW, Washington, D.C. 20527. Payment will be made monthly in arrears.

(f) This solicitation incorporates one or more solicitation provisions and contract clauses by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer will make their full text available. The vendor is cautioned that the listed provisions may include blocks that must be completed by the vendor and submitted with its quotation. In lieu of submitting the full text of those provisions, the vendor may identify the provision by paragraph identifier and provide the appropriate information with its quotation or offer. Also, the full text of a solicitation provision or contract clause may be accessed electronically at the following address: https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far.

(g) The provision at FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Products and Commercial Services, applies to this acquisition. The following addenda apply to this provision:

(1) The vendor’s Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) must be included in its quotation. All vendors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) at www.sam.gov.

(2) Site visit. Attendance at the site visit is required to submit a quote. The purpose of the site visit is to facilitate prospective vendor’s understanding of the project specifications, current conditions, and existing plant arrangements. The site visit will be held on Tuesday, January 9, 2024, starting at 11:00am Eastern time (ET). The site visit will include a tour of the 6th, 7th, 9th, and 12th floors of DFC’s office. You must attend the site visit at 11:00am to submit a quote; any quotes received where the vendor did not attend the site visit will be rejected. The site visit will be conducted at the DFC office located at 1100 New York Ave NW, Washington, DC 20527. Please e-mail Joshua Houston, Contracting Officer, at joshua.houston@dfc.gov, no later than Friday, January 5, 2024, to be added to attendee list. You must be on the attendee list to attend the site visit. Once a prospective vendor requests to be added to the attendee list, additional logistical information about the site visit will be provided.

(3) Quotations shall be submitted in six parts:

(i) Experience and capabilities. Provide a discussion of your experience and capabilities to meet this requirement. The vendor must have the technical and managerial ability to maintain plants; a minimum of five consecutive years of experience in the maintenance and care of interior live plants; qualified personnel, equipment, and materials to accomplish the maintenance services; and practical experience maintaining live plants and in the identification and treatment of pests and diseases.

(ii) Plant design proposal. Provide a proposal for your design of DFC’s interior plant arrangements. Your proposal shall include the number and types of plants to be installed, including the plant height and fullness, as well as the container size, color, and style that will be provided, and the general locations of the plants proposed in the DFC workspace. You must provide sufficient information such that DFC can evaluate your proposed plant arrangements for its suitability, feasibility, and aesthetic qualities.

(iii) Past performance references. Provide a list of three past performance references, including the name of the customer organization, contract number (if applicable), a short description of the services provided, the name and telephone number and/or e-mail address for a customer point of contact, the dollar value of the contract/project, and the period of performance of the contract/project. References should be for contracts/projects that are either on-going or completed no longer than three years ago as of January 17, 2024. This part of the quotation is limited to no more than three pages.

(iv) Plant price list. Provide a price list for the lease and maintenance of all plant types you intend to offer to DFC as part of task order 1. This price list will be incorporated into the IDIQ contract and will be binding on task order 1 and all future task order issued under the contract.

(v) Task order 1 price. Complete and return Attachment 3, Task order 1 price template, to provide your prices for task order 1. Please input unit prices in column H of the template.

(vi) Representations and certifications. Any required representations and certifications, including, as applicable, FAR 52.204-24, Representation Regarding Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment; FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Products and Commercial Services; and FAR 52.225-2, Buy American Certificate.

(3) Quotations are due by Wednesday, January 17, 2024, at 4:30pm ET, by e-mail to Joshua Houston, Contracting Officer, at joshua.houston@dfc.gov.

(h) The provision at FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation-Commercial Products and Commercial Services applies.

(1) The specific evaluation criteria to be included in paragraph (a) of FAR 52.212-2 are as follows. The non-price factors, when combined, are significantly more important than price.

(i) Experience and capabilities. DFC will evaluate this factor using the experience and capabilities information submitted by the vendor in its quotation. This factor will be evaluated based on the capability of the vendor to meet DFC’s needs as described in the statement of work and demonstrated experience caring for and maintaining interior live plants.

(ii) Plant design. DFC will evaluate this factor using the plant design proposal submitted by the vendor in its quotation. This factor will be evaluated based on the suitability, feasibility, and aesthetic qualities of the proposed plant arrangements.

(iii) Past performance. DFC will evaluate this factor using information obtained from the past performance references submitted by the vendor in its quotation, and any past performance information obtained from other sources. This factor will be evaluated based on the vendor’s record of recent successful past performance on similar requirements.

(iv) Price. DFC will use the pricing submitted for task order 1 for the purposes of the price evaluation.

(2) DFC may perform a comparative evaluation (comparing quotes to each other) to select the contractor that is best suited and provides the best value, considering the evaluation factors in this solicitation.

(i) Once DFC determines the vendor that is best suited for the requirement (i.e., the apparent successful vendor), DFC reserves the right to communicate with only that vendor to address any remaining issues for negotiation. These issues may involve technical matters and price. If the parties successfully negotiate all remaining issues, DFC will finalize a contract with that vendor. If the parties cannot successfully negotiate all remaining issues, as determined at the sole discretion of DFC, DFC reserves the right to communicate with the next best-suited vendor based on the original evaluation results to address any remaining issues for negotiation with that vendor.

(j) Vendors are advised to include a completed copy of the provision at FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Products and Commercial Services, with their quote, as described in paragraph (g)(3)(vi) above. If the vendor has completed FAR 52.212-3 at www.sam.gov, then the vendor does not need to provide a completed copy with its quote.

(k) The following provisions also apply to this solicitation:

(1) For the IDIQ contract:

(i) FAR 52.204-7 System for Award Management (Oct 2018).

(ii) FAR 52.204-16 Commercial and Government Entity Code Reporting (Aug 2020).

(iii) FAR 52.204-24 Representation Regarding Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment (Nov 2021).

(iv) FAR 52.225-2 Buy American Certificate (Oct 2022).

(l) The clause at FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Products and Commercial Services, applies to this acquisition for the IDIQ contract.

(m) The clause at FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Products and Commercial Services, applies to the IDIQ contract. See full text of this clause in Attachment 4, Full text of FAR 52.212-5.

(n) The following clauses also apply to this solicitation:

(1) For the IDIQ contract:

(i) FAR 52.204-13 System for Award Management Maintenance (Oct 2018).

(i) FAR 52.204-18 Commercial and Government Entity Code Maintenance (Aug 2020).

(i) FAR 52.216-18 Ordering (Aug 2020). See full text of this clause in Attachment 5, Additional clauses.

(i) FAR 52.216-19 Order Limitations (Oct 1995). See full text of this clause in Attachment 5, Additional clauses.

(i) FAR 52.216-22 Indefinite Quantity (Oct 1995). See full text of this clause in Attachment 5, Additional clauses.

(i) DFC.003 GOVERNMENT TECHNICAL MONITOR. See full text of this clause in Attachment 5, Additional clauses.

(i) DFC.026 ELECTRONIC INVOICING AND PAYMENT REQUIREMENTS - INVOICE PROCESSING PLATFORM (IPP). See full text of this clause in Attachment 5, Additional clauses.

(2) For task order 1:

(i) FAR 52.217-9 Option to Extend the Term of the Contract (Mar 2000). See full text of this clause in Attachment 5, Additional clauses.

(o) The Defense Priorities and Allocations System (DPAS) does not apply to this acquisition.

(p) Quotations are due by Wednesday, January 17, 2024, at 4:30pm ET, by e-mail to Joshua Houston, Contracting Officer, at joshua.houston@dfc.gov.

(q) Any inquiries regarding this solicitation must be sent to Joshua Houston, Contracting Officer, at joshua.houston@dfc.gov. Please submit any questions by Tuesday, December 19, 2023. DFC may not answer questions received after December 19, 2023.

Attachments:

1 - IDIQ statement of work.

2 - Task order 1 statement of work.

3 - Task order 1 price template.

4 - Full text of FAR 52.212-5.

5 - Additional clauses.

6 - Wage determination for Washington DC.

Attachments/Links