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Vendor Literature & Unsolicited Proposals

Vendor Literature

The AOC will accept advertising materials from vendors that want to present their capabilities to the AOC. Those materials can be categorized as:

  • Material that familiarizes the AOC with the vendor's products or services;
  • Material that is meant to stimulate the AOC's interest in buying the vendor's products or services; and
  • Contributions which are concepts, suggestions, or ideas a vendor presents to the AOC for its consideration with no indication that the vendor intends to give any more effort to the contribution.

Vendor literature that is sent to the AOC may be added to a source list that is available to the AOC staff. The literature shall be submitted to:

Architect of the Capitol
Acquisition and Material Management Division
Ford House Office Building, Room H2-263
2nd and D Streets, SW
Washington, DC 20515

 
Unsolicited Proposals

An unsolicited proposal is a written proposal submitted to the AOC on the initiative of a vendor for the purpose of obtaining a contract with the AOC that is not in response to a Request for Proposals or Agency announcement.

The AOC has elected to follow the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) process which addresses unsolicited proposals and provides guidance on what constitutes a bona fide unsolicited proposal.

A valid unsolicited proposal must:

  • Be innovative and unique;
  • Be independently originated and developed by the offeror;
  • Be prepared without AOC supervision, endorsement, direction or involvement;
  • Include sufficient detail to allow the AOC to decide if the proposal could benefit the AOC's mission;
  • Not be an advance proposal for a known requirement that can be procured by competitive methods; and
  • Not address previously published agency requirements.

Unsolicited proposals in response to a publicized general statement of agency needs are considered to be independently originated.

The AOC shall evaluate unsolicited proposals for energy performance savings in accordance with the procedures in 10 CFR 436.33(b).

An unsolicited proposal must contain:

  • General information as to names, addresses, telephone numbers, etc.;
  • Names and telephone numbers of the vendor's technical and business personnel that AOC may contact for evaluation purposes;
  • Submission date and signature of a responsible official or authorized representative of the vendor's organization, or a person authorized to contractually obligate the organizations;
  • A concise title and abstract (approximately 200 words) of technical information on the proposed procurement;
  • A complete discussion stating the objectives of the approach to be used, the effort to be employed, the nature of the anticipated results, and how the work will support the AOC's mission;
  • The names and brief biographical information of the firm's key people who would be involved;
  • A proposed price or total estimated cost for the proposed effort detailed by element of cost for meaningful evaluation;
  • The type of contract preferred;
  • A valid time period of proposal (suggested: 6-month minimum);
  • The proposed duration of effort;
  • A brief description of the vendor's organization, previous experience, related performance, and facilities to be used; and
  • The names and telephone numbers of any AOC employees contacted regarding the proposal.

The above elements are required to begin a process of evaluation of an unsolicited proposal. All unsolicited proposals shall be submitted to:

Architect of the Capitol
Acquisition and Material Management Division
Ford House Office Building, Room H2-263
2nd and D Streets, SW
Washington, DC  20515


Any information submitted that the AOC determines does not meet the requirements of a valid unsolicited proposal shall be handled as regular vendor advertising literature.