THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) BEING RELEASED PURSUANT TO FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION (FAR) PART 10: MARKET RESEARCH.

Introduction

The United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) has a requirement for assigning routing classification in the United States Patent Classification (USPC) and full "expert" level classification in Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) of patent applications, and document reclassification in order to meet the USPTO mission which is the examination, granting and dissemination of Patents and Trademarks. The USPTO is issuing this RFI, as part of its market research, to gather vendor capabilities and feedback to the attached draft Statement of Work (SOW).

This RFI is issued solely for informational, market research, and planning purposes. It does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Further, USPTO is not seeking proposals at this time and will not accept unsolicited proposals.
All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the responding party's expense. USPTO is not liable for any costs (direct or indirect) associated with the preparation, submissions or responses to the market survey or any costs associated with USPTO use of the information.
Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the United States Government to form a binding contract. Although the term "offeror" is used in this RFI, your response will be treated as information only and shall not be used as a proposal. It is the responsibility of the interested parties to monitor www.fbo.gov for additional information pertaining to this RFI.

Requested Information
Interested vendors should provide the following information:

1. Company Overview:
a. A brief description of your company.
b. Socio-economic status, business size, and size standard/applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes.
c. Dun & Bradstreet (DUNS) number.
d. Web site address.
e. Government and commercial clients. Please include the scale of these contracts by dollar value, full time equivalent employees (FTEs), or number of annual contacts.

2. Company Capabilities
a. Specify your company's ability to provide the following as described in the SOW: (1) Initial classification of patent applications USPC Primary, (2) Initial classification of patent applications CPC expert, and (3) Document reclassification. It should be clearly delineated as to which areas your company is able to perform.
b. Have you performed these services before? If so, please provide past performance details to include contract number, dollar value, and point of contact.
c. What would your company require for a transition/start-up period, including initial and projected workload capacity volumes?
d. If this work can be performed under a GSA Schedule contract or other GWAC that your company currently holds, please provide contract number and ordering information.
e. Is your company currently operating under either an ATO or C&A with any r Government customer? If so, please describe with whom, the nature of the work performed, and the risk level of the C&A.

3. Pricing
a. What price structure would you anticipate, including considerations of a ramp-up period during a base period and efficiencies gained during any option periods?
b. Would any pricing reductions be offered based on volumes awarded via task orders?
c. What type of incentive structure would you recommend, if any?

4. Feedback
USPTO is seeking to ensure that the SOW requirements are in line with industry standards and commercial best practices. In accordance with this goal, USPTO is providing the draft for industry comments. Please note that while USPTO is providing the drafts for comment, USPTO also welcomes any comments related to this requirement, even if they do not relate to an item contained in the draft.

RFI Response Instructions

Questions concerning this RFI must be submitted no later than 2:00 pm ET, Thursday, June 9, 2016 to [email protected].
Responses to this RFI must be submitted no later than 11:00 am ET, Monday, June 20 to [email protected]. The response should be no longer than 20 pages in length. Vendors should clearly mark any confidential and/or proprietary information in the response as applicable. Proprietary information in the response will be protected from unauthorized disclosure. Information submitted by vendors will only be shared with USPTO employees and contractors with signed confidentiality agreements.
Respondents to this RFI shall designate a primary and one (1) alternative point of contact for the company (name, address, email, and telephone number).
Only vendors that can provide the services at the scale and scope described in this RFI should respond.