This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 12.6 and procedures in Subpart 13.1 as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; offers are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued.

This solicitation will be issued utilizing Full and Open Competition IAW FAR Subpart 6.1. The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the offeror who is deemed responsible and is determined, based on the evaluation factors and subfactors, to represent the best value to the Government.

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) is accepting proposals from offerors who provide program management services to support the U.S.-China Standards and Conformity Program Phase III Technical Assistance program in accordance with the attached Statement of Work (SOW). The North American Industry Classification System Code (NAICS) is 541690.

OFFEROR'S PROPOSAL MUST BE PREPARED, SUBMITTED, AND WILL BE EVALUATED AS DESCRIBED BELOW:

1. OFFER DUE DATE: Your offer must be received no later than 12:00 Noon local Arlington, VA time on Friday, May 10, 2013. Late proposals will be processed in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation guidance.

2. OFFER SUBMISSION: Send your offer by email to [email protected]. Proposals submitted by facsimile or to alternate email addresses will NOT be accepted.

3. QUESTIONS RELATING TO THIS SOLICITATION: Questions regarding this RFP must be submitted by 12:00 Noon local Arlington, VA time on Friday, May 3, 2013 to [email protected]. Telephone calls are not acceptable. Written questions will be answered in writing and provided to all offerors via a posting to FedBizOpps. However, due to the time required to research a question, and provide an answer, questions received less than seven calendar days prior to the due date of offers specified in this solicitation may not be answered.

4. NOTICE REGARDING SUSPENSION/DEBARMENT/INELIGIBILITY: Any contract awarded to a Contractor who, at the time of award was suspended, debarred, and ineligible for receipt of contract with Government Agencies or in receipt of a notice of proposed debarment from any Government Agency, is voidable at the option of the Government.

5. SYSTEM FOR AWARD MANAGEMENT (SAM) DATABASE: All Contractors must be registered in the SAM database via https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ in order to be eligible for contract award. Lack of registration in SAM will make an offeror ineligible for award as described in FAR 52.204-7. Do NOT delay submission of your offer pending receipt of a CAGE code. Offerors may obtain information on registration via: https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/. Vendors are reminded that failure to properly enroll in the SAM database and provide accurate Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS)/Tax Identification Number (TIN) information shall exclude you from award consideration.

6. SET-ASIDE: This procurement is unrestricted under NAICS code 541690. Award is limited to U. S. firms or U.S. individuals. Contractor and U.S. subcontractor employees used shall be either U.S. citizens or non-U.S. citizens lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States. International transportation and insurance must have their nationality, source and origin in the U.S. local lodging; food and transportation in the host country are not subject to this restriction.

7. HISTORICAL PRICING: The historical pricing for procurements of similar size and scope are as follows:

• For the U.S.-China Standards and Conformity Program Phase I Technical Assistance effort (20 seminars/workshops) the contract price was $505,000.00.

• For the U.S.-China Standards and Conformity Program Phase II Technical Assistance effort (25 seminars/workshops) the contract price was $499,803.00.

The Government contemplates award of a firm fixed-price contract.

8. SERVICES AND PRICES: Activities related to top development and participation recruitment/mobilization (not-to-exceed 10% of the proposed contract price); a total of 20 seminars/workshops (not-to-exceed 4% each of the proposed contract price for a total of 80% of the proposed contract price); and the Final Report (not-to-exceed 10% of the proposed contract price).

9. DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/STATEMENT OF WORK: Please see Attachment 1 to this solicitation.

10. INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE: All services are subject to the COR's final approval. All work will be inspected and accepted at USTDA's Office, Arlington, VA.

11. DELIVERIES OR PERFORMANCE: The performance of this contract shall start immediately after the effective date of award. The Period of Performance for this Contract shall be three years from the date of the Contracting Officer's signature on the Contract. Performance of this contract shall be at USTDA's Office, Arlington, VA, at other locations in the U.S., and/or the designated host country. Required deliverables are contained in the SOW (see Attachment 1)

12. SPECIAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS: This solicitation includes the following additional contract requirements and terms and conditions:

• CONTRACTOR PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS AND KEY PERSONNEL: The contractor shall provide the key personnel listed in its proposal to perform the work. Changes in key personnel may only be made with the Contracting Officer's prior written approval.

• CONTRACTOR FOLLOW-ON (INELIGIBILITY): The Contractor and its subcontractors shall be ineligible to compete for, as a prime or subcontractor or otherwise, USTDA funded activities that result from this contract. USTDA reserves the right to grant a waiver, based upon FAR 9.503, if preclusion of the contractor or its subcontractors (including consultants) from the follow-on activity would not be in the Government's interest. This restriction shall remain in effect for three years from the completion of this contract. The contractor agrees to include this provision in all subcontracts to this contract.

• DEFENSE BASE ACT INSURANCE: Prior to departure to the host country, the contractor shall obtain Defense Base Act and Medical Evacuation insurance. Proof of such insurance shall be submitted with the initial invoice. Pursuant to FAR 52.228-3, the contractor is required to have DBA coverage for its employees performing work overseas. The contractor agrees to insert the Defense Base Act Insurance requirements in all subcontracts under this contract.

• MEDICAL EVACUATION INSURANCE: In addition, all Contractor personnel working outside the United States shall have medical evacuation insurance for the days spent outside the U. S. The contractor agrees to insert the defense base and medical evacuation insurance requirements in all subcontracts under the contract.

• CONTRACT CLAUSES: The clauses at 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions--Commercial Items and 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items, apply to this acquisition.

• CONTRACT PROVISIONS: The provisions at 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors--Commercial Items; 52.212-2, Evaluation--Commercial Items; and 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications--Commercial Items, apply to this acquisition. The following provision is also included: 52.225-25 Prohibition on Contracting with Entities Engaging in Certain Activities or Transactions Relating to Iran-Representation and Certifications.

13. INSTRUCTIONS/CONDITIONS AND NOTICES TO OFFERORS OR RESPONDENTS: The Provision at FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial, applies to this acquisition with the following addition:

• TECHNICAL PROPOSAL: The contractor shall submit a Technical Proposal, not exceeding 25 pages, that documents their Technical Expertise and Definitional Mission experience. Technical proposal must demonstrate: (1) Knowledge of U.S. standards related to industry across a variety of sectors; (2) experience in host country with expertise and focus on standards; (3) experience with logistics and event organization, preferably in within the host country; (4) quality of proposed program showing understanding of USTDA's mission; and (5) quality of proposed programs demonstrating quality of venues and logistical arrangements, preferably within the host country.

• PAST PERFORMANCE: The purpose of the past performance evaluation is to allow the Government to assess the offeror's ability to perform the effort described in this RFP, based on the offeror's demonstrated present and past performance. Provide any information currently available (letters of reference/appreciation, metrics, customer surveys, independent surveys, etc.) which demonstrates customer satisfaction with overall job performance and quality services for same or similar type contracts performed for Federal agencies and commercial customers within the last five (5) years from the date of issuance of this solicitation. Information must be current (within the last 5 years from the date of issuance of this solicitation). Undated information or information over five years old will not be considered. In addition, explain corrective actions taken in the past, if any, for substandard performance and any current performance problems.

• In addition, the contractor shall provide a separate Price proposal on the SF-1449 (see Attachment 2 to this solicitation).

14. EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD: Pursuant to FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation-Commercial Items, 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, price and other factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers:

(1) TECHNICAL: The following sub-factors are listed in descending order of importance.

Sub-factor 1: Knowledge of U.S. standards related to industry across a variety of sectors;

Sub-factor 2: Experience in host country with expertise and focus on standards;

Sub-factor 3: Experience with logistics and event organization, preferably within the host country;

Sub-factor 4: Quality of proposed program showing understanding of USTDA's mission; and

Sub-factor 5: Quality of proposed programs demonstrating quality of venues and logistical arrangements, preferably within the host country

(2) PAST PERFORMANCE

(3) PRICE

All evaluation factors, other than cost or price, when combined, are significantly more important that cost or price.

Technical and Past Performance shall be evaluated using the adjectival ratings in Attachment 3 to the solicitation.

The Government will evaluate price to determine the following:

• Completeness: All information required by the solicitation has been submitted and is accurate.

• Reasonableness: The Government will conduct a price analysis to determine whether the proposed prices are fair and reasonable. This determination may be accomplished by one or more of the techniques set forth in FAR 15.404-1(a)(b)(2).

No adjectival ratings will be used to evaluate Price.

15. BASIS FOR CONTRACT AWARD: The Government will use Best Value Source Selection Procedures to evaluate offers and determine the best value. The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the offeror who is deemed responsible in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation, as supplemented, whose proposal conforms to the solicitations requirements (to include all stated terms, conditions, representations, certifications, and all other information required by this solicitation) and is determined, based on the evaluation factors, to represent the best value to the Government. The Government seeks to award to the offeror who gives USTDA the greatest confidence that it will best meet or exceed the requirements affordably. This may result in an award to a higher rated, higher priced offeror, where the decision is consistent with the evaluation factors and the Contracting Officer reasonably determines that the technical approach and/or superior past performance of the higher priced offeror outweighs the cost difference. The Contracting Officer will make an integrated assessment based on the evaluation factors described above.