4.0 EVALUATION PROCESS AND ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

The Offerors' proposals will be evaluated using the three-step process and the factors described below.

4.1 Step 1

The first step of the evaluation entails an assessment of the Project Plan to determine the Offeror's adherence to the scope of the RFA (see 1.2 above). The USPTO will make this determination on a pass/fail basis. Proposals that pass by complying with adherence will move to the next step.

4.2 Step 2

The USPTO will review the Project Plan and may communicate to the Offeror uncertainties that are found in the proposal. Such communications will be for the purpose of minimizing the uncertainties. They will not be used to cure significant omissions in the proposal, materially alter the proposal, or otherwise elicit significant revisions to the proposal. Any proposals whose project plans contain significant omissions or ambiguities will no longer be considered. Offerors who submit project plans that are clear or whose uncertainties have been removed, may be required to conduct an oral presentation of the proposed Agreement (project plan) and participate in a question and answer session. The oral presentation (if required) and project plan will be evaluated using the evaluation factors below:

Factor 1 - Soundness of Approach

• Is the business analysis sufficient to demonstrate the probable viability of the proposal?
• Does the Offeror’s project plan promise appropriate management attention and resources?
• Are duties, responsibilities, and milestones clearly stated for both the Offeror and the USPTO?
  Are they reasonably achievable by both parties?
• Manageability, i.e., is the burden to the USPTO in allocating the resources, providing any of the
  services, or in granting administrative relief or other consideration requested by the Offeror acceptable?
• Does the Offeror clearly articulate how it will develop and market the software or service to meet the USPTO customer’s need.

Factor 2 - Impact on Underrepresented Market Segments

Are positive impacts anticipated on any of the following:

• On complicated applications containing complex work units?
• On simple patent and trademark applications and assignments?
• On filings under the Patent Cooperation Treaty?

Estimates provided for the impact on Underrepresented Market Segments should be supported by market research, if practicable. If a new product or service is proposed, then the business plan should support the economic viability and likelihood of success of the proposed product or service

Factor 3 - Impact on Filer

Does the proposal demonstrate reduction in any of the following:

• Cost to the filer?


• Time spent preparing an application?

Empirical data is needed to support marketing claims on burden/time reduction to filers, where available.

Factor 4 - Past Experience

Does the Offeror demonstrate in the following areas the past experience necessary to support the viability of the proposal

• Experience with electronic filing?
  
• Experience with XML?
• Experience in serving the intellectual property practitioner, the independent inventor market, or other relevant market dealing with intellectual property?
  
• Experience in developing and maintaining end user software?
• Experience in profit making business setting?
• Experience in developing applications for filing documents that need to have strong guarantees of privacy and confidentiality?
• Experience with PKI facilitated communication?

The Offeror should identify the number and types of opportunities in these seven (7) Past Experience areas.

Step 2 of the Project Plan evaluation (utilizing the four factors listed above) will result in a pass/fail determination. Any uncertainties in the Offeror's proposal identified by the USPTO may be communicated to the Offeror for clarification and possible negotiation. Offerors' proposed Project Plans that pass the Step 2 evaluation will continue to the next step.

4.3 Step 3

The third step will focus on the proposed Agreements' impact on the USPTO. This assessment will include a comparison of the Offerors' proposed Agreements using the following discriminators:

• value of benefits offered,
• creativity of approach in satisfying the need to provide tools and services to increase electronic filing and correspondence ,
• consideration requested of the USPTO, for example, the extent to which USPTO's management, legal, technical and financial resources and support services are required.

The USPTO will review the proposed Agreements' impact on the USPTO and any uncertainties in the Offeror's proposal identified by the USPTO may be communicated to the Offeror for clarification and possible negotiation. Utilizing the Step 3 evaluation, the USPTO will rank the proposed Agreements in descending order, beginning with the one with the greatest benefit and least burden offered.

Issuance will be made of approximately seven Agreements that the PTO deems manageable considering the above discriminators. As a result of this assessment, any, all, or none of the proposed Agreements may be selected.

The USPTO may make a down select to what it determines to be a reasonable number of proposals at this time, in order to facilitate oral presentations, if they are held.

4.4 Oral Presentation

The USPTO may elect to conduct oral presentations. In the event oral presentations are held, each Offeror's presentation will not exceed two hours in duration. A USPTO Contract Specialist will schedule the oral presentations and will notify each Offeror of the date, time, and location. The oral presentation will take place at the Government's facility in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. The Government reserves the right to reschedule an oral presentation at the discretion of the USPTO Contracting Officer. If the Offeror is unable to travel to the location where the oral presentation is to occur, then a teleconference will be arranged for the scheduled date and time.

The Offeror shall present their proposed solution following the same general format required for the Proposal/Project Plan (See 2.1 above). The purpose of the oral presentation is to ensure a thorough understanding of the Offeror's proposed Agreement.

The Contracting Officer will strictly enforce the two-hour time limit. The Offeror's oral presentation must be made by one or more of the persons whom the Offeror will actually employ under the proposed Agreement. Following the oral presentation, each Offeror shall participate in a question and answer session held by the Government. The presenters must be able to answer technical, business and project management questions regarding the proposed Agreement. The oral presentation will be evaluated as stated in Section 4.2 Step 2. The Government may audio or videotape the Oral Presentation.

4.5 Legal Review

The Offeror's project plan will be reviewed by the USPTO's Office of the Solicitor and other appropriate USPTO organizations to determine conformance to the laws and statutes of the United States particularly those relating to Patents and Computer Security, and the policies of the USPTO. A Proposal's request for changes or interpretations to USPTO policies will be considered by the appropriate Legal Authority and clarifications or amendments to the Proposal may be requested. Final proposals that call for changes that are outside the limits of the laws and policies that govern the USPTO shall not receive further consideration.

5.0 ISSUANCE OF AGREEMENTS

The USPTO anticipates issuing Agreements about 120 days after submission of proposals.