GSA Federal Acquisition Service

GSA Federal Acquisition Service

Network Services Division

Maintenance contracts

Customer User Guide

Region 6 (MO, KS, IA, NE)

Introduction

The Region 6 Maintenance contracts are competitively awarded, multiple-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts for requirements associated with NAICS 811213.

The Maintenance contracts were awarded May 1, 2013. The contract term is for five-years with a one-year base period and four one-year option periods. The Maintenance contracts have maximum contract life cycle value of $9.4M. A list of the Maintenance contract Contractors can be found at http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/101440.

The Maintenance contracts are intended to support GSA and their customer agencies with telecommunication maintenance services throughout the four state region including Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska.

Federal agencies are authorized to utilize the contracts pursuant to GSA Order ADM 4800.2G. This contract is for use by Federal agencies in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska. The following organizations within that geographical area that can order from the contracts include:

·  All federal agencies and activities in the executive, legislative and judicial branches,

·  Government vendors authorized in writing by a Federal agency pursuant to 48 CFR 51.1,

·  Mixed ownership Government corporations (as defined in the Government Corporation Control Act),

·  Other activities and organizations authorized by statute or regulation to use GSA as a source of supply.

Ordering from the Maintenance contracts

Orders are to be awarded only by a warranted Contracting Officer. Contracting Officers from agencies other than GSA must receive a written Delegated Ordering Official (DOO) letter issued by a GSA Contracting Officer to be authorized to order from the contracts. DOO authorization requests and/or questions concerning authorization should be directed to:

Shellie Heislen, GSA Contracting Officer

General Services Administration

1500 E Bannister Rd, Room BOE 4.5

Kansas City, MO 64131

Email:

Phone: 816-823-2683

The GSA Contracting Officer shall be the only person authorized to make or approve any changes in the requirements of the Maintenance contracts. Notwithstanding any provisions and/or clauses contained elsewhere in the contract, said authority shall remain solely with the GSA Contracting Officer.

In the event the Contractor should make any changes at the direction of any person other than the GSA Contracting Officer, such change shall be considered to have been made without authority and no adjustment shall be made in the contract price to cover any increase in costs incurred as a result thereof.

All prices may be accessed on the GSA Region 6 website. Please note; these are ceiling prices and may be discounted at any time at the individual order level. If a price is not included in the pricing spreadsheet, the Contractor shall submit a request for modification to add the desired products and/or services to the contract. Theses modification requests shall be submitted to the GSA Contracting Officer listed above.

Before an order is processed, the ordering activity must identify its requirements and determine if they are within the scope of this Maintenance contract.

The ordering activity has two options for placing orders: Direct Order/Direct Bill or GSA Assisted Services. Authorized ordering activities can place task/delivery orders in accordance with the provisions of the contract, its internal agency policies and regulations and by an authorized Contracting Officer. Contracting Officers supporting their own agency are involved in direct order acquisitions, while those who support other agencies are engaged in assisted acquisitions.

1. Direct Order/Direct Bill Acquisitions. Under this scenario, the customer agency is responsible for its own acquisition and program management activities. The ordering activity Contracting Officer is subject to the FAR, rules, regulations, and conditions promulgated and enforced by the individual ordering agency. The ordering and billing for the products and/or services is directly between the ordering activity and the Contractor.

2. Assisted Acquisitions. In this scenario an agency may elect to have an assisted acquisition organization (GSA) provide full or partial acquisition program and/or project management services through the order life cycle. The scope and terms of the assisted acquisition support are directly arranged by the customer agency with the assisted acquisition organization agency, which in turn will support the customer’s maintenance requirement with a maintenance contract holder.

No work may be performed, no debt or obligation accrued, and no payment may be made, except as authorized by a bona-fide written order signed by a duly warranted Federal Contracting Officer with status as a Maintenance contract DOO.

Order Process

Once a DOO is granted, the Contracting Officer follows their internal process for planning and funding the requirement, gaining any necessary approvals and documenting the order. The Contracting Officer is responsible for acquisition planning and conducting due diligence as directed by FAR and agency policy and regulation. The process of order award can be configured to agency needs, provided it is consistent with the contract, customer agency policy and the FAR.

The order process as outlined in FAR 16.505 is applicable and should be reviewed.

All Contractors will be provided a fair opportunity to be considered for each order in excess of $3,000, except as noted as an exception in FAR 16.505(b)(2) as listed below. The ordering official shall issue a Request for Quote (RFQ) to all Maintenance contract holders. All Contractors will be allowed to quote on the RFQ. Order award will be made to the Contractor based on the evaluation criteria established in the RFQ or low price as determined and documented by the ordering Contracting Officer.

On an exception basis, as authorized in FAR 16.505(b)(2), multiple Contractors need not be given an opportunity to be considered for a particular order in excess of $3,000 when the Contracting Officer (CO) determines that:

·  The agency need for services is so urgent that providing a fair opportunity would result in unacceptable delays,

·  Only one Contractor is capable of providing the services at the level of quality required because the services ordered are unique or highly specialized (i.e. no other Contractor offers that service in the given geographical area),

·  The order must be issued on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency as a logical follow-on to a task already issued under the contract, provided that all applicable Contractors were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order, or

·  It is necessary to place an order to satisfy a minimum guarantee.

If a fair opportunity exception is applicable, the ordering official will document in the order file the rationale for the determination that one of the exceptions to fair opportunity is appropriate.

Direct Order/Direct Bill

The contractor shall receive service orders from two sources:

(a) Delegated Ordering Official (DOO) (direct ordering)

GSA will delegate to DOOs the authority to place orders directly with the contractor. For customer organizations that place orders directly with the contractor, their DOO is responsible for the orders and will sign and approve each order. The DOO is responsible for inspection and acceptance or rejection of the services performed by the contractor, as ordered by the DOO. After contract award, the contractor will be notified by the GSA CO which customer organizations have been authorized to perform direct ordering.

(b) Contracting Officer Technical Representative (COTR), on behalf of a customer organization, (centralized ordering)

For centralized ordering, GSA will act as an agent for customer organizations as authorized by a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) executed between the customer organization and GSA (i.e., orders will be placed by customer organizations through GSA, and GSA will issue the orders to the contractor). For the orders placed through GSA, the COTR is responsible for the orders and will approve and sign each service order, up to their signature authority of $25,000. Orders above $25,000 will be signed by the GSA CO. The COTR is responsible for inspection and acceptance or rejection of the services performed by the contractor.

The contractor shall enable the COTR or DOO to submit service orders to the contractor using the following media:

(c) Telephone

(d) Facsimile

(e) Electronic mail

(f) Electronic file

(g) Mail

(h) EDI, where technically feasible

EDI service ordering transactions shall conform to the ANSI X12 850 transaction sets, as interpreted by the Telecommunications Industry Forum (TCIF).

Order Funding

Funding for each order shall be at the order level. Incremental funding strategies may be used when consistent with customer agency policy. Contracting Officers should ensure that funding supporting order work is appropriate for the type and range of contemplated work. All orders are subject to funding agency appropriation guidelines.

Order Duration

The basic contract term consists of one two-year base period and three one-year option periods.

The term for each order placed under the contract shall be specified in the individual order. No new orders should be placed under the contract if the contract is not in effect, has expired, or has been terminated.

Orders may be placed against the contract at any time during the period of performance of the contract and shall continue for the duration of the order as specified in the order.

Requirement Cancellation

Cancellation of an order RFQ is at the discretion of the ordering Contracting Officer. Cancellation of an RFQ may be necessary and justified for any or all of the three reasons:

·  Services are no longer required or are significantly changed;

·  All quotes received are at unreasonable prices or only one quote is received and the ordering Contracting Officer cannot determine the reasonableness of the price;

·  For other reasons, cancellation is clearly in the public’s interest.

It is a good practice for the ordering Contracting Officer to document the cancellation decision rationale and have the cancellation decision approved pursuant to ordering agency policy.

Service Contract Act

The basic labor categories included on the contract are considered to be subject to the Service Contract Act (SCA). There may be instances where the SCA does not apply and the decision and documentation of that decision with be the responsibility of the ordering Contracting Officer in accordance with their agency policy and regulations.

Electronic Invoicing

Contractors are required to submit invoices electronically as requested by the ordering agency. Monthly invoices and usages data must be electronically transmitted utilizing the Secure Standard File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) or in one of the specified formats below, no later than 10 working days following the bill date. Both direct billing of the Agency and Central Billing to GSA shall be supported. For direct billing, the Contractor shall send the bill directly to the Agency Contracting Officer or to address as specified in the order. For central billing, the Contractor shall send the bill directly to the specified location communicated by the GSA, Billing Management Office.

Contractor Performance

In conformance with the Government’s need to record and maintain information on Contractor performance during the life of these contracts the customer agencies are to periodically evaluate the manner in which the Contractor performed in accordance with contract requirements such as: site surveys, delivery timeliness, testing, inspection compliance, replacement/repair service, savings, order processing time and overall satisfaction. Evaluation shall be made using the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS). Information obtained as a result of the evaluations may be considered by Government agencies for support of future award decisions (FAR 42.1500).

Region 6 GSA Maintenance Contacts

Eastern Missouri / Kim Brammeier / / 314-539-3492
Ken Melvin / / 314-539-3909
South Kansas City / Randy Meyers / / 816-926-1569
Western Missouri and Kansas / Tyrone Davis / / 816-426-3021
Jim Hamerle / / 816-426-3196
Iowa / Rick Reynolds / / 816-926-3234
Nebraska / Randy Meyers / / 816-926-1569

Page 6 of 6