This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6, in conjunction with FAR 13.5, and 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. The solicitation number is 1019-631498 and is issued as a request for quotation (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular NA. The associated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 334119 with a small business size standard of 1,000 employees. This requirement is unrestricted and only interested offerors may submit a quote. The solicitation pricing on www.FedBid.com will start on the date this solicitation is posted and will end on Wednesday, June 28, 2006 at 15:00:00 Eastern Time or as otherwise displayed at www.FedBid.com. FOB Destination shall be Washington, DC 20520

The Department of State requires the following items, EXACT MATCH ONLY, to the following:
LI 001, BLUECOAT 8000-3, 4X10/100/1000 BASE -T, SGOS, 4, EA;
LI 002, BLUECOAT GOLD SERVICE, 1 YEAR, 8000-3, 4, EA;
LI 003, BLUECOAT IM TRAFFIC CONTROL per PROXYSG, 50,000-99,999 USERS, 1 YEAR, 80000, EA;
LI 004, PROFESSIONAL SERVICES DAILY SERVICE FEE FOR ASSESSMENT, PLANNING, DESIGN, IMPLEMENTATION AND OPTIMIZATION, 10, EA;
LI 005, BLUECOAT SOFTWARE, MICROSOFT MEDIA STREAMING per PROXYSG 8000-2, 4, EA;
LI 006, BLUECOAT, RENEWAL GOLD SERVICE, 1 YEAR, DIRECTOR, BASE, 1, EA;
LI 007, BLUECOAT RENEWAL, GOLD SERVICE, REPORTER, ENTERPRISE EDITION, 1 YEAR, 1, EA;

For this solicitation, Department of State intends to conduct an online competitive reverse auction to be facilitated by the third-party reverse auction provider, FedBid, Inc. FedBid has developed an online, anonymous, browser based application to conduct the reverse auction. An Offeror may submit a series of pricing quotes, which descend in price during the specified period of time for the aforementioned reverse auction. Department of State is taking this action in a an effort to improve vendor access and awareness of requests while expediting its ability to gather multiple, completed, real-time offers. All responsible Offerors that respond to this solicitation MUST submit the pricing portion of their offer using the online exchange located at www.FedBid.com. There is no cost to register, review procurement data or make an offer on www.FedBid.com. Offerors that are not currently registered to use www.FedBid.com should proceed to www.FedBid.com to complete their free registration. Offerors that require special considerations or assistance may contact the FedBid Helpdesk at 877-9FEDBID (877-933-3243) or via email at [email protected]. Offerors may not artificially manipulate the price of a transaction on www.FedBid.com by any means. It is unacceptable to place bad faith offers, to use decoys in the www.FedBid.com process or to collude with the intent or effect of hampering the competitive www.FedBid.com process. Should offerors require additional clarification, contact Harry Lundy at [email protected] or FedBid.com at 877-9FEDBID (877-933-3243) or [email protected].

In addition to providing pricing at www.FedBid.com for this solicitation, each Offeror must provide any required, NON-PRICING responses (e.g. technical proposal, representations and certifications, etc.) so that they are received at that email address no later than the closing date and time for this solicitation. Buyers and Sellers agree to conduct this transaction through FedBid in compliance with the FedBid Terms of Use. Buyers and Sellers understand that FedBid ranks all bids by price, regardless of the evaluation criteria used by the Buyer; however, pursuant to applicable acquisition regulations and/or departmental guidelines, Buyers may use criteria other than price to evaluate the offer. Please note that any such evaluation criteria must be articulated in the solicitation to the extent required by such regulations and/or guidelines. Contact [email protected] or call 1-877-9FEDBID to address any questions of comments Agencies may require registration with the Central Contractor Registry (CCR) prior to receipt of order. Information can be found at www.ccr.gov Buyers and Sellers agree to use FedBid.com as an independent Venue for buying and selling goods or services, respectively. It is understood that FedBid ranks all bids by price, regardless of the evaluation criteria used by the buyer. Buyers and Sellers understand that a Buyer always maintains all rights assigned under their contracting authority and/or applicable acquisition regulations, and may select the most advantageous bid for the governments purpose while considering offline factors such as delivery, past performance, socio-economic classifications, and source rotation. ALL BOXES AND CONTAINERS MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED WITH THE REQUISITION REFERENCE NUMBER FOUND IN BLOCK 4, OF 347 ORDER FOR SUPPLIERS AND SERVICSE. SHIPPING DOCUMENTS WILL CELARLY LIST EACH ITEM AND THE QUANTITY SHIPPED AS CONTAINED WITHIN BOXES OR CONTAINERS. IF SINGLE LINE ITEMS HAVE BEEN ASSEMBLED INTO MAJOR COMPONENT, SHIPPING DOCUMENTS MUST ACCOUNT FOR THE INDIVIDUAL ITEMS SHIPPED WITHIN THE MAJOR COMPONENT. In order to enhance and maintain the current U.S. Department of State's firewall network security posture, these upgraded secure proxy devices are required to replace the current models purchased under 1019-373262. The Department of State recently increased the circuit bandwidth from T3 to OC3 levels. Based on this change, the current models in use are not sized to accommodate this level of increased bandwidth and would result in system failover and impact network performance, affecting the productivity of OpenNet users. The content filtering software provides additional protection to the firewall filtering process from new and upcoming HTTP based threats, attacks and viruses. The content filtering software is essential to the State Department's requirements for maximum protection and utilization of the network security infrastructure on and off site. The BlueCoat appliances were incorporated into the firewall infrastructure in 2003 to replace devices that were no longer supported by the manufacturer and satisfied the Departments requirements for maximum protection and utilization. At that time, the BlueCoat and various other devices were evaluated and it was determined that the BlueCoats were compatible and could be easily integrated into the firewall infrastructure already in place. Currently, there are other HTTP Content Filtering devices on the market that could be purchased, however to do so would require the department to replace additional equipment needlessly.

Bid Protests Not Available