POLQA SOFTWARE

DESCRIPTION:

THIS IS A COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FORMAT IN FAR SUBPART 12.6-STREAMLINED PROCEDURES FOR EVALUATION AND SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS-AS SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE.  THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION; QUOTATIONS ARE BEING REQUESTED AND A SEPARATE WRITTEN SOLICITATION DOCUMENT WILL NOT BE ISSUED.  THE SOLICITATION IS BEING ISSUED USING SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION PROCEDURES

This solicitation is a Request for Quotation (RFQ).  The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC-89)

1352.215-72 INQUIRIES (APR 2010)

Offerors must submit all questions concerning this solicitation in writing to the contracting officer within three (3) business days of the posting.  All responses to the questions will be made in writing, without identification of the questioner, and will be included in an amendment to the solicitation.  Even if provided in other form, only the question responses included in the amendment to the solicitation will govern performance of the contract. 

(end of provision)

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has a requirement for Perceptual Objective Listening Quality Analysis (POLQA) Software.

This RFQ is conducted under the authority of FAR 13 Simplified Acquisitions with NAICS code 334515, Instrument Manufacturing for Measuring and Testing Electricity and Electrical Signals, with a small business size standard of 750 personnel.  This requirement is being competed as a total small business set-aside.  Any small business may submit a quote. 

Attached are the Specifications for solicitation NB671000-20-01391.  Please submit a quote for the required POLQA Software that meet the requirements.

All communications and documents must include the solicitation # NB671000-20-01391.  Please email your quote to me at [email protected] no later than April 23, 2020, 10:00 AM Mountain.  Please direct any questions regarding this solicitation to Aron Krischel, Contracting Officer, at [email protected] no later than April 20, 2020.  Your quote must meet all requirements of FAR 52.212-1, as well as include the following information:

• Information sufficient to demonstrate you can meet or exceed the requirements in the Specifications.
• Firm fixed price quote for the POLQA Software.
• Payment Terms: Net 30. 
• The required delivery date is 30 days after receipt of the order (ARO).  FOB Destination for delivery to NIST, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305. Delivery point of contact will be provided upon award.
• Company DUNS No. To be eligible for this award, the quoter must be registered with the System for Award Management at www.sam.gov., and have completed the Representations and Certifications therein for the specified NAICS code, or submit separate Representations and Certifications if the specified NAICS code is not listed in their SAM registration.

The provision at FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors—Commercial, applies to this acquisition. Quoter shall clearly demonstrate their ability to meet the technical requirements and deliverable schedule as outlined in this solicitation. Quote shall include shipping costs. NIST reserves the right to ship under NIST provided account.

BASIS OF AWARD:

Award shall be made to the Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) quote, based upon the technical specifications as detailed within the attached Specifications. This will be a firm fixed price purchase order.

The Government intends to evaluate quotations and issue a purchase order based on the initial quotations received. Therefore, the quoter’s initial quotation should contain the quoter’s best terms from a price and technical standpoint. The Government reserves the right to request revised quotations from, or negotiate final purchase order terms with, one or more, but not all, quoters if later determined by the Contracting Officer to be necessary. However, the Contracting Officer will not establish a competitive range, conduct discussions, or otherwise use the procedures described at FAR 15.306.  The Government may reject any or all quotations if such action is in the public interest; and issue a purchase order to other than the quoter with the lowest priced quotation.

TECHNICAL CAPABILITY:

Evaluation of Technical Capability will be based on the information provided in the quotation. Documentation submitted in the quotation shall be evaluated to determine that the proposed equipment meets or exceeds the Governments minimum required specifications. Failure to clearly and unambiguously demonstrate this will result in an “unacceptable“ technical rating.

PRICE:

Price shall be evaluated for reasonableness.

FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation - Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition. The Government will award a fixed price contract to the Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) quote, based upon the technical specifications as detailed within the attached statement of work.

FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications -- Commercial Items. The quoter must have completed the Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA), which must be uploaded to the System for Award Management (SAM) at www.sam.gov.

FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions -- Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition.

FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required To Implement Statutes or Executive Orders -- Commercial Items applies to this acquisition. Additional FAR 52.212-5 clauses cited in the clause applicable to this acquisition are:

52.222-3, Convict Labor

52.222-19, Child Labor – Cooperation With Authorities And Remedies

52.222-21, Prohibition of Segregated Facilities

52.222-26, Equal Opportunity

52.222-36, Equal Opportunity for Workers with Disabilities

52.222-50, Combating Trafficking in Persons

52.223-18, Contractor Policy to Ban Text Messaging While Driving

52.225-1, Buy American Act-Supplies

52.225-13, Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases

52.232-33, Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer

FAR 52.252-1, Solicitation Provisions Incorporated by Reference:

This solicitation incorporates one or more solicitation provisions by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer will make their full text available. The quoter is cautioned that the listed provisions may include blocks that must be completed by the quoter and submitted with its quotation or offer. In lieu of submitting the full text of those provisions, the quoter may identify the provision by paragraph identifier and provide the appropriate information with its quotation or offer. Also, the full text of a solicitation provision may be accessed electronically at this/these address(es): at http://acquisition.gov/comp/far/index.html and http://www.osec.doc.gov/oam/acquistion_management/policy/default.htm

FAR 52.225-18 – Place of Manufacture.

FAR 52.232-15, Progress Payments Not Included

CAR 1352.213-70, Evaluation Using Simplified Acquisition Procedures

CAR 1352.215-70, Proposal Preparation

CAR 1352.233-70, Agency Protests

CAR 1352.233-71, GAO and Court of Federal Claims Protests 

CAR 1352.239-70, Software License Addendum

CAR 1342.239-71, Electronic and Information Technology

FAR 52.252-2, Clauses Incorporated by Reference:

This contract incorporates one or more clauses by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer will make their full text available. Also, the full text of a clause may be accessed electronically at this/these address(es): http://acquisition.gov/comp/far/index.html and http://www.osec.doc.gov/oam/acquistion_management/policy/default.htm

FAR 52.232-40, Providing Accelerated Payments to Small Business Subcontractors.

FAR 52.247-34, FOB Destination

CAR 1352.201-70, Contracting Officer’s Authority

CAR 1352.209-73, Compliance with the Laws

CAR 1352.209-74, Organizational Conflict of Interest

CAR 1352.246-70, Place of Acceptance (APR 2010)

(a) The Contracting Officer or the duly authorized representative will accept supplies and services to be provided under this contract.

(b) The place of acceptance will be:

NIST

Shipping and Receiving

325 Broadway

Boulder, CO 80305             

NIST LOCAL-04 BILLING INSTRUCTIONS

(a) NIST prefers electronic Invoice/Voucher submissions and they should be emailed to [email protected].

(b) Each Invoice or Voucher submitted shall include the following: (1) Contract Number. (2) Contractor Name and Address. (3) Date of Invoice. (4) Invoice Number. (5) Amount of Invoice and Cumulative Amount Invoiced to-date. (6) Contract Line Item Number (CLIN). (7) Description, Quantity, Unit of Measure, Unit Price, and Extended Price of Supplies/Services Delivered. (8) Prompt Payment Discount Terms, if Offered. (9) Any other information or documentation required by the contract.

(c) In the event electronic submissions are not used, The Contractor shall submit an original invoice or voucher in accordance with the payment provisions of this contract to:

NIST

Accounts Payable Office

100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 1621

Gaithersburg, MD 20899-1621

NIST LOCAL - 39, NIST LOCAL-39 MARKING/PACKING INSTRUCTIONS

1. If the total contract/order includes multiple quantities of the same or like item(s), segregated as separate CLIN/Item numbers, deliverables shall be packed accordingly. Each individual Package / container in the shipment shall include deliverables on a per-CLIN or Item basis.

(2) For each shipment made under this contract/order, the Contractor shall furnish itemized packing list(s), enumerating the specific contents of each shipping container and what specific individual

Components constitute a full and complete "unit" for each bid item. The packing list shall include the brief description of each item found in the Schedule. If more than one container is

Required for each unit, each container should be marked accordingly, e.g., "Box 1 of 2," "Box 2 of 2," and the boxes, where feasible, should be taped or shrink-wrapped together as an

Issuable unit.

1. The contract number AND CONTRACT LINE ITEM NUMBER (CLIN) OR ORDER ITEM NUMBER shall be placed on the exterior of all containers.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected].

Aron Krischel

Contracting Officer

REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENT

TITLE:  POLQA Software

LAB REQUESTING ITEM(S):  Communications Technology Laboratory, PSCR

1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) program conducts research, development, testing, and evaluation to foster nationwide interoperability and advanced communications and operations technology for the nation’s public safety community.  In the course of this research, PSCR must evaluate the quality of speech received by various public safety communication devices in various conditions.  PSCR requires software that can predict speech quality according to ITU-T Recommendation P.863.

Perceptual Objective Listening Quality Analysis (POLQA) is a standard method defined in ITU-T P.863 to predict the speech quality through communication systems.  A mean opinion score (MOS) can be produced by the POLQA algorithm from the comparison of a reference signal (talker side) to a degraded signal (listener side).

1. SCOPE

PSCR requires software that can compare reference and degraded audio signals stored in Waveform Audio File Format (.wav) on a Windows 10 computer and produce a MOS in accordance with ITU-T P.863.

     2. SPECIFICATIONS

The contractor shall deliver two (2) copies of software which:

1. Runs on Microsoft Windows 7 or Windows 10
2. Has the ability to compare a degraded audio signal to reference audio signal and produce a mean opinion score in accordance with ITU-T Recommendation P.863
3. Takes as input files stored in Waveform Audio File Format (.wav)
4. Supports monophonic audio sampled at rates including narrow band (8000 samples/s), wide band (16000 samples/s) and super wide band (48000 samples/s).
5. Can be operated from a command line interface.  The command line interface shall allow a person to enter a reference audio file name and a degraded audio file name.  The interface will then return the MOS score in text format.
6. Each copy must be usable in a location separate and disconnected from the other copy.

   3. DELIVERY / PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

Software will be delivered no later than thirty (30) days after receipt of order.  The software license shall be perpetual.  Software support shall be available for one (1) year after government acceptance of delivery.

    4. DELIVERABLES

The contractor shall deliver two (2)  copies of the software and license.  Each copy is for use on one computer at a time.  USB license dongles, or other means, shall be provided for allowing the licenses to be moved from computer to computer.  Software will be provided electronically, and license dongles will be shipped to PSCR.  Support will be provided via email/phone.

    5. PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENT

Through inspection and basic tests, PSCR personnel will verify that the software performs as expected prior to acceptance and final payment.