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REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

United States Department of Homeland Security

Directorate of Science and Technology

Office of National Laboratories

Transportation Security Laboratory

Laboratory Accreditation, Quality Assurance, and Configuration Management Support Services

RFI Number 70RSAT23RFI000025

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and market research planning purposes. This RFI shall not be construed as an obligation on the part of the Government. This is NOT a Request for Quotations or Proposals (RFQ/P). No solicitation document exists, and the Government may or may not issue a formal solicitation as a result of the responses received to this RFI.

The Government will not pay for any response or demonstration expenses. All costs incurred responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party's expense. Failure to respond to this RFI will not preclude participation in any future solicitation. In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organizations’ capabilities.

The Government’s explicit intent, in this request for information, is to not receive from respondents any proprietary data, trade secrets, business sensitive information, or information considered CONFIDENTIAL under 18 U.S.C. §1905. The Government’s constraint does not in any way relieve contractors from their responsibility to properly mark proprietary data when it is provided, nor does it alleviate any requirement for the Government to protect marked data. The Government is not obligated to protect unmarked data.

The information provided in this RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. All submissions become the property of the Federal Government and will not be returned.

A. BACKGROUND

The Transportation Security Laboratory (TSL) is a United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Federal Laboratory located at the William J. Hughes Technical Center, Atlantic City International Airport, New Jersey, and is a part of the Directorate of Science and Technology (S&T) Office of National Laboratories (ONL). The core mission of TSL is to enhance homeland security by performing research, development and validation of solutions to detect and mitigate the threat of improvised explosive devices.

TSL helps protect our nation’s civilian air transportation systems. By virtue of its accomplished experts, cutting-edge facilities and partnerships, TSL offers the homeland security community and transportation security partners the ability to advance detection technology from conception to deployment through applied research, test and evaluation, assessment, certification and qualification testing.

B. DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENT

TSL is seeking information to support its market research regarding offerors capable of providing services in support of laboratory accreditation and quality assurance programs and processes. More specifically, this requirement encompasses:

1. Implementing and maintaining International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001:2015 registration and ISO 17025:2017 accreditation activities;


2. Supporting the Laboratory Operations Quality Management Office;


3. Quality Assurance/Quality Management (QA/QC) support activities for the TSL; and


4. Providing Configuration Management(CM) and support for the TSL.

In addition, the contemplated requirement would include the following subtasks:

• Laboratory Accreditation Support;


• Quality Assurance Support;


• Configuration Management Support;


• CM Database Support;


• CM Administration;


• Configuration Audits and Configuration Identification (CI);


• Configuration Control;


• CM Status Accounting; and


• CM Audits

C. INFORMATION REQUESTED

Through this RFI, TSL is seeking technical information regarding experience and desired abilities from contractors relative to this requirement.

Experience:

1. Describe your experience and process for finding, attracting, hiring, and retaining qualified, reliable, personnel to include; Government suitability and clearance;


2. Describe your relevant and recent experience in supporting and administering a Government laboratory facility; relevant to size/complexity of the requirements outlined in the attached draft Performance Work Statement (PWS) entitled “Laboratory Accreditation and Quality Assurance Support Services. In addition, please describe one or, if possible, two experiences with a challenging Quality related project or program, what the obstacles and bottlenecks were, and actions taken to a successful resolution or conclusion;


3. Describe your experience in supporting laboratory operations such as laboratory accreditation, (QA/QC) support and providing CM support; and


4. If your company does not have experience or capability in one or more of the support areas, how would your company address any experience or capability gaps to meet the requirements outlined in the PWS.

In addition, please include a brief history/narrative of your work over the past five years on projects similar in scope.

Desired Abilities:

• To have appropriate training and expertise to perform ISO 9001:2015 internal audits;


• To work in an environment that requires a Department of Defense (DD) Form 254;


• To pass a security background investigation in order to receive a temporary Entry on Duty (EOD) that would allow contactor employees to commence work prior to the completion of the full investigation;


• To have or be able to obtain quickly Contractor Employee Suitability through the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and their e-QIP System (using Standard Form 85P); and


• To be able to work full-time, on-site in Atlantic City, New Jersey, with occasional travel to Panama City, Florida, and/or Huntsville, Alabama, with only some occasional off-site work at the contractor’s facilities (which includes any home office).

D. INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESPONDING TO THIS RFI

Sources/contractors who are interested in and capable of fulfilling the requirements outlined above are invited to submit via e-mail their responses to this RFI including their capability statements and/or descriptions of their service offerings in a Microsoft Word document or Adobe *.pdf document that is five (5) page or less in length, which includes any cover letter, using no less than a 10-point font (12-point font preferred) on standard 8 ½” x 11” pages with margins no less ½” (1” margins preferred). No telephone inquiries will be accepted.

In addition to your capabilities or service offerings, please provide the following information:

• Company name and physical/mailing address (headquarters or main office and/or local office proximal to TSL in New Jersey);


• Company’s North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes applicable to this requirement and corresponding socioeconomic statuses;


• System of Award Management (SAM.gov) registration status (active registration or not);


• Company’s Unique Entity Identifier assigned as part of SAM.gov registration;


• CAGE (Commercial and Government Entity) Code;


• Company website address;


• Company POC name and title; and


• Company POC contact information (e-mail address and telephone number)

The due date and time for any questions regarding this requirement and RFI is 06/06/2023, on or before 1:00 PM Eastern Time via e-mail to DHS Office of Procurement Operations (OPO) Contracting Officer Robert Marosz at Robert.Marosz@hq.dhs.gov and the OPO Industry Liaison at opoindustryliaison@hq.dhs.gov.

The due date and time for final RFI responses/submissions is 06/14/2023, on or before 1:00 PM Eastern Time via e-mail to Robert.Marosz@hq.dhs.gov

Furthermore, please include, as a reference, the RFI number, 70RSAT23RFI000025, in your document and the subject of any e-mail correspondence.

Any unsolicited proposals or quotes in response to this RFI will not be considered.

The Government reserves the right to hold one-on-one meetings as a result of responses received from this RFI as part of its market research. Meetings may be held in particular with vendors who provide comprehensive responses to the questions posed.

Thank you for your interest, consideration, and hopefully your participation.

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