PRE-SOLICITATION NOTICE

FOR

FIELD DATA COLLECTION AUTOMATION PROGRAM (FDCA)

The Department of Commerce, US Census Bureau Field Data Collection
Automation, Project Management Office, intends to compete its
requirement for automation for the 2010 Decennial Census field
infrastructure and related interfaces. Detailed information regarding
the FDCA program is provided at the following website:
[**http://www.census.gov/procur/www/fdca/**](http://www.census.gov/procur/www/fdca/).
The acquisition will be conducted using the advisory multi-step process
(hereafter referred to as "voluntary down-select") pursuant to Federal
Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.202. This synopsis constitutes the
Pre-Solicitation Notice and step 1 of the solicitation process. The US
Census Bureau requests that potential offerors submit information that
will allow the Government to advise them about their potential as viable
competitors. A written mini-proposal submission is required in response
to this notice. The information that must be submitted in response to
this synopsis and the criteria that will be used to make the initial
evaluation and resultant voluntary down-select is described below in
this document. The Offeror's mini-proposal and questionnaires shall be
submitted electronically to the attention of \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
to the address at
[**dir.fdca.pmo@census.gov**](mailto:dir.fdca.pmo@census.gov) and are
due no later than May 9, 2005, 3:00 PM Eastern Time. Sections of the
draft Request for Proposals (RFP) are being released at the same time as
this notice, and they contain sufficient information to permit potential
offerors to make an informed decision about whether to participate in
this acquisition. The draft sections are available at the above
referenced website.

Submitters' viability will be evaluated on the following three factors:
Similar Experience, Past Performance (Organization's Performance on the
submitted experiences), and a "FDCA Technical Document" demonstrating
the submitter's understanding and high level proposed resolution of the
challenges associated with the FDCA program. Note, the Government will
evaluate only the Prime System Integrator\'s Similar Experience and Past
Performance, whether or not the prime has already formed subcontracting
partnerships for this effort. However, the prime\'s past ability to form
and manage highly successful partnerships will be evaluated. The
government will evaluate each submitter's Similar Experience based upon
its relevancy to the scope and complexity of FDCA. To meet this
objective, the Government has defined Similar Experience as the
management of the design, development, integration, deployment,
maintenance and support of a distributed automation system involving
both office and mobile environments established for purposes of
bi-directional transmission of information and data. The FDCA Technical
Document will be evaluated based on the submitter's abilty to
demonstrate an understanding of the complexity and challenges in areas
the submitter considers critical to the success of the FDCA program.

Submitters that the Government considers not to be viable competitors
will receive, in writing, the general basis for the US Census Bureau\'s
findings. In accordance with FAR 15.202(b), those submitters will also
be advised that, notwithstanding the advice provided by the Government
in response to their submissions, they may participate in the resultant
acquisition. After the voluntary down-select process, the US Census
Bureau will publish on its website the names of the Prime Systems
Integrators determined to be viable competitors, as well as any other
potential competitors that request that their identities be disclosed .
Small businesses are encouraged to contact these companies for
subcontracting opportunities.

Following the presolicitation process, the US Census Bureau estimates
the release of the formal RFP in June 2005, with an award expected in
April 2006.

### Mini - Proposal Submission Instructions

The submitters' Similar Experience information shall be provided on the
matrix template contained in Attachment L.1. The submitters shall
contact past performance references directly and request that they
complete and submit the past performance questionnaires contained in
Attachment L.2. The Government requests that the three (3) referenced
customers complete the past performance questionnaires provided.
Attachment L.2 provides the questionnaire to be sent to the submitters'
references. Any information provided by the submitters' referenced
customers is subject to verification/validation by the Government during
the evaluation process. As part of the voluntary down-select process,
questionnaires must be provided to customer references such that
questionnaires are received at the US Census Bureau by 3 P.M. Eastern
Time, May 9**, 2005.** In the event references are not received by May
9, 2005, the Government will make contact and follow up with the listed
references.

> Submitters **shall** submit their mini-proposals on Standard 8.5 x
> 11-inch paper using Times New Roman, 11 point font, with one inch
> margins using Microsoft Word. See Chart below.

### 

> > **ATTACHMENT L.1**
>
> > **SIMILAR EXPERIENCE MATRIX TEMPLATE**

+----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+---+---+
| 1)                   |                                               |   |   |
|  ***Contract/Title*, |                                               |   |   |
|     *Project Name*   |                                               |   |   |
|     (Contract Number |                                               |   |   |
|     *XXXX*)**        |                                               |   |   |
+----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+---+---+
| 2)  **Performed      |                                               |   |   |
|     By:**            |                                               |   |   |
+----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+---+---+
| 3)  **Major          |                                               |   |   |
|                      |                                               |   |   |
|  Subcontractor(s):** |                                               |   |   |
+----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+---+---+
| 4)                   |                                               |   |   |
|  **Agency/Company:** |                                               |   |   |
+----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+---+---+
| 5)  **CO:**          |                                               |   |   |
+----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+---+---+
| 6)  **COTR:**        |                                               |   |   |
+----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+---+---+
| 7)  **Other          |                                               |   |   |
|     Technical POC:** |                                               |   |   |
+----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+---+---+
| 8)  **Period of      |                                               |   |   |
|     Performance:**   |                                               |   |   |
+----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+---+---+
| 9)  **Contract Type  |                                               |   |   |
|     and Total        |                                               |   |   |
|     Value:**         |                                               |   |   |
+----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+---+---+
| 1                    |                                               |   |   |
| 0) **Product/Service |                                               |   |   |
|     Provided:**      |                                               |   |   |
+----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+---+---+
| 11) **Small Business |                                               |   |   |
|     Participation:** |                                               |   |   |
+----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+---+---+
| 12) **Awards,        |                                               |   |   |
|     Recognitions,    |                                               |   |   |
|     and              |                                               |   |   |
|     Certifications   |                                               |   |   |
|     Received:**      |                                               |   |   |
+----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+---+---+
| 13) **Relevancy of   |                                               |   |   |
|     Experience:**    |                                               |   |   |
+----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+---+---+

**ATTACHMENT L.2**

**ORGANIZATION'S PERFORMANCE QUESTIONNAIRE**

+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| ##  ORGANIZ                       |                                  |
| ATION'S PERFORMANCE QUESTIONNAIRE |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| Your assistance is requested in   |                                  |
| support of a source selection     |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| Please complete this              |                                  |
| questionnaire and mail or send by |                                  |
| fax (301) 457-1785 to:            |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_,     |                                  |
| Contracting Officer               |                                  |
|                                   |                                  |
| U.S. Census Bureau Desired        |                                  |
| Response Date: May 9, 2005        |                                  |
|                                   |                                  |
| 4700 Silver Hill Road, Stop 1700  |                                  |
|                                   |                                  |
| Washington, DC 20233              |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| When complete, the information on |                                  |
| this form is **SOURCE SELECTION   |                                  |
| SENSITIVE INFORMATION** (41       |                                  |
| U.S.C. 423) and shall be          |                                  |
| protected accordingly.            |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| # TO BE COMPLETED BY CONTRACTOR   |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| 1.  CONTRACTOR'S NAME AND ADDRESS | 4\. CONTRACT NO.:                |
|                                   |                                  |
| >                                 |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
|                                   | 5\. CONTRACT INITIATION DATE:    |
|                                   |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
|                                   | 6\. COMPLETION DATE:             |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
|                                   | 7\. CONTRACT VALUE \$            |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| 2.  PROJECT NAME:                 | 8\. TYPE OF CONTRACT:            |
|                                   |                                  |
|                                   |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| 9\. DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT'S KEY  |                                  |
| CHARACTERISTICS:                  |                                  |
|                                   |                                  |
|                                   |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| Please add a continuation page if |                                  |
| additional space is necessary.    |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| TO BE COMPLETED BY EVALUATING     |                                  |
| ORGANIZATION REPRESENTATIVE       |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| 10\. EVALUATION                   |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| a.  EVALUATOR'S NAME, POSITION    |                                  |
|     DURING PROJECT EXECUTION      |                                  |
|     (Project Manager/COR/Other)   |                                  |
|     AND ORGANIZATION              |                                  |
|                                   |                                  |
| >                                 |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| b.  EVALUATOR'S PHONE NUMBER      | c\. MONTHS PERFORMANCE MONITORED |
|                                   | BY EVALUATOR:                    |
| >                                 |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| Please check the response code    |                                  |
| for each topic that best reflects |                                  |
| your experience with this         |                                  |
| contractor:                       |                                  |
|                                   |                                  |
| **EX** = Exceptional **VG** =     |                                  |
| Very Good **S** = Satisfactory    |                                  |
| **MG** = Marginal **US** =        |                                  |
| Unsatisfactory **N/O** = Not      |                                  |
| Observed                          |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| A.  **Quality of Products and     |                                  |
|     Services**- Assess the        |                                  |
|     contractor's conformance to   |                                  |
|     contract requirements.        |                                  |
|                                   |                                  |
| > EX VG S MG US N/O               |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| B.  **Overall Performance**-      |                                  |
|     Assess the contractor's       |                                  |
|     overall performance for the   |                                  |
|     project.                      |                                  |
|                                   |                                  |
| > EX VG S MG US N/O               |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| C.  **Schedule**- Assess the      |                                  |
|     timeliness of the contractor  |                                  |
|     against the schedule of       |                                  |
|     activities (as appropriate).  |                                  |
|                                   |                                  |
| > EX VG S MG US N/O               |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| D.  **Technical Requirements**-   |                                  |
|     Assess the contractor's       |                                  |
|     ability and capacity to       |                                  |
|     fulfill the technical         |                                  |
|     requirements of the contract. |                                  |
|                                   |                                  |
| > EX VG S MG US N/O               |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| E.  **Cost Control**- Assess the  |                                  |
|     contractor's willingness and  |                                  |
|     ability to manage the         |                                  |
|     contract budget and control   |                                  |
|     costs.                        |                                  |
|                                   |                                  |
| > EX VG S MG US N/O               |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| F.  **Subcontracting**- Assess    |                                  |
|     the contractor's success at   |                                  |
|     complying with subcontracting |                                  |
|     goals.                        |                                  |
|                                   |                                  |
| > EX VG S MG US N/O               |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| G.  **Customer Satisfaction**-    |                                  |
|     Assess the contractor's       |                                  |
|     responsiveness to customer    |                                  |
|     concerns and "user            |                                  |
|     friendliness" in ROUTINE      |                                  |
|     matters.                      |                                  |
|                                   |                                  |
| > EX VG S MG US N/O               |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| H.  **Customer Satisfaction**-    |                                  |
|     Assess the contractor's       |                                  |
|     responsiveness to customer    |                                  |
|     concerns and "user            |                                  |
|     friendliness" in UNEXPECTED   |                                  |
|     DIFFICULTIES.                 |                                  |
|                                   |                                  |
| EX VG S MG US N/O                 |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| I.  **Repeat Business**- Assess   |                                  |
|     the likelihood that you would |                                  |
|     want this contractor to       |                                  |
|     perform another contract for  |                                  |
|     you in the near future.       |                                  |
|                                   |                                  |
| > EX VG S MG US N/O               |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| J.  List Contractor's Weak        |                                  |
|     Points:                       |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| K. List Contractor's Strong       |                                  |
| Points:                           |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| L. List any other projects this   |                                  |
| contractor has completed for you: |                                  |
|                                   |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| M. If an award fee contract, what |                                  |
| was the average award fee %       |                                  |
| earned?                           |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+