Month: August 2020

Contract Opportunity for Portable Light Towers with Generators

Posted on by Eric Coffie

VAMC NORTHAMPTON/LEEDS: Two Generac Diesel Portable Light Towers:

This Sources Sought is Brand Name Specific. The work shall include product order and delivery as listed in the Description/ Itemization above, and as required to achieve the purpose as detailed in the SOW. The standard warranty will be provided at no additional cost. The vendor must also demonstrate they are competent and certified by the OEM to work on the listed equipment.  All technical support and services shall be conducted onsite.  The contractor will be required to work directly with Biomedical Engineering and Program Managers, and the equipment shall be 100% operational at all time unless otherwise specified.  All equipment must be free of debris, clean, and safe to operate at all times.

All interested firms must be registered in SAM (System for Award Management) to be eligible for award of Government contracts. Interested parties responding to this Sources Sought request shall submit the following information at a minimum:

(1) Company name and address, point of contact with phone number, and DUNS number;

(2) Documentation relating to capability of performance including installation in a hospital environment, training, and three (3) references with current point of contact and phone number);

(3) Socio-economic status to identify business class as being a large business, SDVOSB, VOSB, small business, Woman Owned, etc.

(4) Service Area

(5) Any other pertinent company documentation, prior to submission of offers to a solicitation.

Any SD/VOSB firms responding to this Sources Sought Notice must also provide proof of registration in the VA VetBiz, prior to submission of offers to a solicitation.

The response date to this Sources Sought notice is Aug 21, 2020 12:00 pm EDT

 

LEIDOS INC. – One of 10 Firms To Compete For Each Order of the $209,000,000 Contract For Architect and Engineering Services

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Leidos Inc.,Reston, Virginia,  Aecom Technical Services Inc., Los Angeles, California ,  Arcadis U.S. Inc., Highlands Ranch, Atkins North America Inc., Dallas, Texas, Cardno GS Inc., Charlottesville, Virginia , HDR Environmental Operations and Construction Inc., Englewood, Colorado, Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Dallas, Texas, WSP USA Solutions Inc., Washington, DC , Tetra Tech Inc., Pasadena, California  and Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions Inc., Blue Bell, Pennsylvania will compete for each order of the $209,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for architect and engineering services to support the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers South Atlantic Division.

Bids were solicited via the internet with 28 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 3, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

Leidos, formerly known as Science Applications International Corporation, is an American Defense, Aviation, Information Technology, and Biomedical Research company headquartered in Reston, Virginia, that provides scientific, engineering, systems integration, and technical services.

Sierra Nevada Corp Awarded $318M Contract For Simple Key Loader Production, Engineering and Sustainment Support Services

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Sierra Nevada Corp., Sparks, Nevada, was awarded a $318,952,224 hybrid (cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price) contract for simple key loader production, engineering and sustainment support services. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received.

Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 9, 2030. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W15P7T-20-D-0030).

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), the global aerospace and national security leader owned by Eren and Fatih Ozmen, has been named a US Best Managed Aerospace & Defense Company for 2020. The US Best Managed Companies program is sponsored by Deloitte Private and The Wall Street Journal.

Architect of the Capitol Job Order Contract (JOC)

Posted on by Eric Coffie

The Architect of the Capitol (AOC) is seeking Small Business (SB) construction contractors with the experience and the capability of responding within seventy two (72) hours with the necessary labor, material, equipment, project management, quality control, coordination of tasks, and safety services to complete repairs and alterations on an emergency basis.

Work orders issued under this contract, may include the following types of services:

  1. MEP/HVAC
  2. Emergency Power
  3. Elevator I Escalader
  4. Concrete
  5. Fire Alarm and Fire Sprinkler
  6. HAZMAT Remediation
  7. Demolition
  8. Roofing
  9. Stone and Facade Restoration
  10. Painting
  11. Office Restoration I Fit Out

ll work shall meet the intent of the International Building Code and all applicable state and local codes and shall be completed in a professional workmanship manner and meet current industry standards. The awarded contract may also cover other type of repairs that are not covered/listed in the items identified above, including non-emergency work. The above list is provided to cover general scopes of work that may be awarded under this contract.

Responses to this Sources Sought shall be limited to 5-pages (11 point minimum, Times New Roman font, PDF) and shall include the following information:

  1. Contractor’s name, address, point of contact, and email address.
  2. The submission shall include a description of a minimum of three projects completed within the past five years similar to the work identified above. Standard brochures will not be considered a sufficient response to this notice
  3. Identification of company’s small business status
  4. Constructor’s Unique Identifier Number and CAGE Code
  5. Documentation from the firm’s bonding company showing maximum current single and aggregate performance and payment bond limits

Interested contractors should submit an electronic copy of the requested information via e-mail to the Contracting Officer, John Lingamfelter, at [email protected] no later than August 24, 2020 at 2:00 PM EST.

IMPORTANT:

Any attempt to hand deliver or mail a response to any location in the U.S. Capitol Complex will be rejected.

FULL DETAILS HERE

Sources Sought For Equipment Related Services For The U.S. Army Tank Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM)

Posted on by Eric Coffie

The U.S. Army Tank Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) is conducting a Market Survey to determine the level of interest among qualified contractors for services related to maintenance, repair and overhaul, equipment modification, installation of equipment and technical representative services to keep machines, systems, and vehicles functioning or in working order.

Contractors who deem themselves qualified and who would be interested in competing for such a contract are asked to complete the following questionnaire and provide written responses electronically via email to the U.S. Army Contracting Command(ACC) POC, Matthew Fitzsimmons, [email protected]. ACC will not accept telephone inquiries. POC will not schedule personal visits for the purpose of discussing this announcement. Emails or phone calls requesting personal visits will not receive a reply

Request that your response be returned no later than August 19, 2020 at 10:00 am EST.

COMPLETE DETAILS HERE.

NIST Seeks For Automation Hardware and Software Upgrade Provider for Non-Contact mm-Wave Probe Station

Posted on by Eric Coffie

The National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) seeks information on vendors that are capable of providing an Automation Hardware and Software Upgrade for Non-Contact mm-Wave Probe Station. The Quantitative Nanostructure Characterization group in PML seeks to acquire a hardware and software upgrade to automate operation of and data acquisition from a non-contact, two-port probe station for mm-wave (~100 GHz to ~1.0 THz) measurements of on-wafer devices. The upgrade must be compatible with the existing non-contact probe station (Teraprobes Inc Model Number TP-100-M8025-P) and existing mm-wave test platform components. The existing test platform components include a vector network analyzer, mm-wave extension modules, and diagonal feed horns. The probe station will support ongoing NIST programs in mm-wave device and materials characterization for a wide variety of applications, including biological sensing, measurement calibration, and wireless communications.

NIST is conducting research into non-contact measurement of on-wafer devices at mm-wave frequencies. Non-contact techniques complement techniques that use probes in physical contact with the device. o date, NIST has used a manually operated non-contact probe station. Recent advances in automation of non-contact, on-wafer characterization improve throughput by a factor of ten or more compared to manual, on-wafer characterization. The Quantitative Nanostructure Characterization group seeks an upgrade for automation of its existing non-contact probe station to improve measurement throughput and reproducibility.

Interested business organizations that believe they are capable of meeting the requirement should submit electronic copies or mailed copies of their capability statements. Please limit responses to FIVE (5) pages or less (8.5″ x11″ format, 1″ margins, 12-point font, double spaced), including figures and tables. Responses should include the following information:

1. Name of the company and address that will provide the product.

2. Company DUNS number, Cage Code, Tax ID Number, and Type of small business, e.g., Services Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, Veteran-owned small business, 8(a), HUBZone, Women-Owned Small Business, Small disadvantaged business, or Small Business HUBZone business.

3. Company point of contact, phone, fax, and e-mail.
4. Name of the company that will manufacture the product.
5. Specification sheets and examples of products that meet the specifications.

6. Contact information of customers who have obtained and used these products.
7. Typical lead time to deliver the product after receipt of the order.
8. Any other relevant information that is not listed above, which the Government should consider in developing its minimum specifications and finalizing its market research.

BASED ON THE RESPONSES TO THIS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE/MARKET RESEARCH, THIS REQUIREMENT MAY BE SET-ASIDE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES.

Any company proprietary information should be so marked. The written capability statement should be received by the Contracting Officer no later than 7:00 pm Mountain Standard Time (MST) August 15, 2020. The capability statement shall identify the business status of the organization.

Accenture Federal Services Awarded an $89,615,577 Multiple-year Contract

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Accenture Federal Services LLC, Arlington, Virginia, has been awarded an $89,615,577 multiple-year firm-fixed-price contract action to sustain existing infrastructures and establish new cloud common infrastructure and services for Air Force enterprise resource planning: Air Force Integrated Personnel and Pay System, Defense Enterprise Accounting and Management System, and maintenance, repair and overhaul initiative.

Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia; Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; Maxwell AFB-Gunter Annex, Alabama; Randolph AFB, Texas; and other locations as required.

Work is expected to be completed by July 31, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and 28 offers were received. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $5,000,000; and fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $1,750,340 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Maxwell AFB – Gunter Annex, Alabama, is the contracting activity (FA8771-20-C-0014).

Accenture Federal Services LLC operates as a private consulting firm. The Firm represents government agencies in the United States. Accenture Federal Services LLC helps its clients manage change, modernize information systems, optimize key headquarters governance and processes, and create improvement strategies.

David Rambhajan: How to Leap Past the Competition using Joint Ventures?

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Former US Marine Corps Sergeant turned construction firm owner, David Rambhajan shares his advice on how to leap past the competition using joint ventures. 

BACKGROUND

David Rambhajan enlisted at the age of 17 and served the US Marine Corps for eight years. 

After that, he then established his own company, Industria Construction Services, in 1993 and is celebrating over 25 years of providing general construction and professional construction management services. 

With his experience, Rambhajan is a big supporter of small businesses and veteran-owned firms that he allocates his time as an advisor to fellow entrepreneurs.

He is also serving the  U.S. Small Business Administration, Elite SDVOB Network, and the Warrior Summit Coalition as part of the Board. 

EXPERIENCE IN THE FEDERAL MARKETPLACE

In working in the federal arena, Rambhajan had worked with several subcontractors and businesses to do joint ventures together. He is very critical in finding the right partner that has the same goals and values as him. 

“I mean the business is great if you could do it and make some money for both of you and deliver some good work, but you have to both have the same values. You have to both be able to work together, you have to build, be able to trust each other. So, it takes time to find the right partner.”

Also, when he finds someone that is not willing to invest the same time and energy as his, he won’t continue working with that person. 

“You don’t want to force it. You want to be humble, hardworking, and humble and develop that relationship. And there are ways to do it. And so, you know, you might be knocking on a door that might not be the right opportunity either.”

Another thing that he also experienced is working with various agencies including the Army, the Navy, and the GSA. With this, he learned to understand the differences in the requirements of every agency. 

“I know it’s a little scary when you look at these contracts that are 300 pages long for construction, but, you know, you got to learn and understand what their requirements are and you have to meet them because, you know, you don’t want to get an issue with the prevailing wage wage requirement and or reporting requirement.”

With all of these, Rambhajan learned three things that enabled his business to continue growing in the marketplace.

“To me, communication is king. You have to communicate, you’re orchestrating a team.The next thing is workflow. I don’t want to see you send one body out. I need the work to be done. I need the teams, you need to put enough labor to get the work done. And the third thing, they’re all equally important in effect to each other, is cash flow. And so with this cash flow, I’m able to employ that best subcontractors who enjoy getting paid as long as they perform.”

ADVICE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

 

Rambhajan advises small businesses to learn to diversify and provide value. There are a handful of programs that small businesses can and government agencies that they can work with but all of this will be wasted if you don’t provide any value to these agencies. 

Also, he encourages  business owners to plan and check if they are on track. They should have a strategy along with the system, their process, and their routines. Part of this process is what Rambhajan called three Rs or the resource, risk, and reward. 

Primarily, you need to identify all of your resources. This is your time, money, skills, and energy. 

In using these resources, there’s always risk involved. So, you should identify these risks and understand how you will deal with it.

Lastly, there’s the reward. However, this reward can only be achieved if you will be able to identify the risk and avoid it.

“Look at your resources and say, ‘How can I use my resources properly to build something so that, you know, I can enjoy what I want for that final honor. What’s the reward? What’s the… is it financial independence and what does that mean? What’s the dollar value?’” 

RESOURCES

If you want to watch the full video of the interview with David Rambhajan as he shares his advice on how to leap past the competition using joint ventures, then be sure to click the link down below.

026: David Rambhajan- President of Industria Construction Services – How to leap past the competition using Joint Ventures

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVX6nA5WwU0&list=PL6-jBNNcc98vTBvNhFYfUTeH0k-Vx2VBH&index=21

https://govcongiants1.wpengine.com/podcast/david-rambhajan-president-of-industria-construction-services-how-to-leap-past-the-competition-using-joint-ventures/

Lourdes Martin-Rosa: Women-Owned Small Business Advocate

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Featured on over 700 media outlets advocating for women-owned small businesses, Lourdes Martin-Rosa shares her experience leading to that success and her advice for small businesses. 

BACKGROUND

Lourdes Martin-Rosa established her company Government Business Solutions in 2003 with the goal of providing innovative and solutions-driven consulting services and training to thousands of small businesses in terms of dealing with the government marketplace. 

While managing her business, she had also served as part of the White House Small Business Taskforce, spearheaded the development of the American Express OPEN for Government Contracting & Grow Global programs, served as a WIPP’s National Partner, and partnered with The LEAD Program, Inc. in 2017.

Through her advocacy, she received an Award of Excellence from The White House Senior Advisor in 2016 and was featured in over 790 media publications including the New York Times, MSNBC, CNN Money, the Washington Post.

THREE WEBSITES THAT YOU SHOULD USE

1. Agency’s Website

The first thing that you need to look at is the procurement forecast of your target agency. Different agencies have their different procurement forecasts; this is why you can only look for this information in that agency’s website. 

The SBA has mandated that procurement forecasts should be posted by October of the following fiscal year. This includes when they are going to purchase it and or if they need businesses within a socio-economic category. They also include some of the contact information in this forecast list including the email address and the phone number of the contracting officer. 

“So the procurement forecast, basically, every agency has one and it lets you know what they’re going to be purchasing.”

2. GSA

You will then visit the General Services Administration’s website to create your pipeline and capture plan. 

Because this website acts as a marketplace for vendors and government agencies, this website contains thousands of firms of different industry and socio-economic categories. With this, you can have a look at their products and services and their pricing models. 

However, Lourdes do not encourage small businesses to become GSA schedule holders to get this pricing catalog from the website because you can get this information directly without having to follow the GSA’s approval process for vendors. 

3. SAM

Lastly, you should visit the System for Awards Management’s database to look for contracting opportunities. 

The SAM website is where you first registered your business in the federal marketplace. This is also where you can get various contracting opportunities after the FBO has been moved to SAM. 

 

Due to this, you can basically do an advanced search on various contracting opportunities as well as receive automatic bid notification when an opportunity in your particular NAICS code or product service code is open. 

Now in getting updates, only focus on your industry because there are hundreds and thousands of opportunities on the SAM database daily. 

ADVICE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

Lourdes Martin-Rosa encourages small businesses to go to networking events and talk to the decision makers and other small businesses.

“Just tell them what you do and how you could help them to fill on their mission and goals.”

In doing this, you have to study the agency’s or that person’s background first so that you can strongly build a relationship with these people. 

Then, when you also need to talk to someone within your target agency to educate you about what that agency’s needs, Lourdes recommend communicating with small business specialists. 

“Those all business specialists are advocates. All they do all day long is trying to find small businesses to fulfill on the agency’s contracts, mission and goals. These are the people you want to talk to.”

Also, if you find an opportunity that you cannot do alone, you can team up with other small businesses within your industry. 

“We don’t have all of the resources and we shouldn’t try to be an IBM or Lockheed Martin. What we need to do is learn to team with each other, learn to value each other’s resources and what, and then fulfill that agency’s mission as a team. And that’s the powerhouse of small business.”

But in doing this, you should also choose the right team partner that has the same values and goals as yours. You can work with your past business partners or you can get recommendations from small business specialists and contracting officials. 

Still, in doing the latter, you should make sure that your prospective partner has a good background by looking at their website or visiting USAspending wherein you just search for the firm’s name and all their past performance will appear. 

RESOURCES

If you want to watch the full video of the interview with Lourdes Martin-Rosa as she shares her advice for small businesses as well as her experience leading to her advocacy, then be sure to click the link down below.

033: Lourdes Martin-Rosa – Spearheading the American Express Open, White House Small Business Taskforce and more

https://govcongiants1.wpengine.com/podcast/lourdes-martin-rosa-spearheading-the-american-express-open-white-house-small-business-taskforce-and-more/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bYp1Q_-qQ4&list=PL6-jBNNcc98vTBvNhFYfUTeH0k-Vx2VBH&index=30

USDA Searching For Firms For The Provision of Back Up Generators To Ensure Continued Operation of Equipment Used In Support of NEPSWL Research Activities

Posted on by Eric Coffie

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is searching for firms who can provide back up generator to ensure the continued operation of equipment used in support of New England Plant Soil and Water Laboratory (NEPSWL) research activities during periods of power outages.

As part of its market research, USDA ARS is issuing this Sources Sought to determine if there exist an adequate number of qualified interested contractors capable of providing the requirement. The Government may use the responses to this Sources Sought for information and planning purposes. This Sources Sought is only for the purpose of identifying potential sources as part of USDA ARS market research. No Request For Quote (RFQ) exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the RFQ.

Responses to this Sources Sought are not quotes on which USDA ARS can issue any contract. This Sources Sought is issued for information and planning purposes only and does not itself constitute a RFQ.

Please send responses with the subject heading [1008505 NPGRRL] to Althea Paul email address: [[email protected]]

Responses are due by: August 8, 2020 9:00 a.m

LINK HERE