Combined Synopsis/Solicitation
IDIQ - Reverse Trade Missions, Conferences, Workshops, Trainings, and Other Events
United States Trade and Development Agency
AI summaryThe U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) wants to build a pool of up to 15 event firms under a multiple-award indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract: an umbrella contract where later task orders go to pool members. Work is planning reverse trade missions (visits by foreign delegates), conferences, workshops and trainings, in the U.S. or overseas. It is a partial small business set-aside with a $100,000,000.00 ceiling; the response due date is November 6, 2026, 12:00 PM Eastern, and the base period starts April 4, 2027. More in the summary
AI summary Beta
The notice looks incomplete: Part of the RFP (1131PL27R0001 - RFP.pdf) is attached but not read: roughly the middle third, from the Section D skills list to the proposal page-limit rules. The slides place the per-role minimum qualifications, the nationality rule (D.1.25), restrictions on work (D.1.26), the subcontracting plan (D.1.27) and general proposal rules there. Check the full RFP on SAM.gov. Check the attachments on SAM.gov.
The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) wants to build a pool of up to 15 event firms under a multiple-award indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract: an umbrella contract where later task orders go to pool members. Work is planning reverse trade missions (visits by foreign delegates), conferences, workshops and trainings, in the U.S. or overseas. It is a partial small business set-aside with a $100,000,000.00 ceiling; the response due date is November 6, 2026, 12:00 PM Eastern, and the base period starts April 4, 2027.
Who can bid (5)
- Partial small business set-aside: open to all businesses, with at least 5 of up to 15 awards intended for responsive small businesses; the size standard is $20 million (NAICS 561920)
- Active SAM.gov registration at the time of award
- Named staff for all nine labor categories who meet the minimum years of experience, starting with a Project Manager with 10 or more years
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- Event examples that include at least one international event
- A nationality requirement in Section D.1.25 of the RFP applies, and U.S. firm status is checked against SAM.gov records; the section's text was not read
How to submit: Email to contractproposals@ustda.gov with the subject "1131PL27R0001: IQC" (per the pre-proposal conference slides). What to include is under Full summary below. Check the solicitation's instructions on SAM.gov.
Things to watch (8)
From the version posted Oct 16, 2026.
- Serious: Nine named people with resumes must be proposed now. Every proposed person must meet the minimum for the role (Project Manager 10+ years, Technical/Report Writer 7+, the other seven roles 5+), which is hard for a small firm to line up before award.
- Worth checking: Competition for up to 15 pool spots. Only the 15 most highly rated responsive offerors are planned for the pool, so a weak technical or past performance rating can leave a business out.
- Worth checking: Event experience thresholds and strict example format. Examples must cover events of 100 to 1,000 attendees, one held outside the U.S., and senior foreign delegations; examples missing client contact details are not considered.
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- Worth checking: Past performance depends on references returning surveys. Your references must send the survey to USTDA by the closing date; surveys you return yourself may not be considered, and no survey leaves you rated Neutral.
- Worth checking: Only one task order is guaranteed per awardee. The minimum is one task order each; other orders are competed among pool members, and no single contractor can receive more than $5,000,000.00 a year.
- Worth checking: Travel costs are paid at cost and agency booking fees are not reimbursed. Other direct costs such as airfare carry no profit or fee, invoices are paid in arrears, and third-party booking fees cannot be billed as labor.
- Minor: Strict page limits. Pages beyond 20 for the technical proposal and 3 for the past performance narrative are not evaluated.
- Minor: Subcontracting plan due after award for larger firms. A business that is not small must submit a small business subcontracting plan within 30 days of award.
Read from the notice and 4 attachments. Show which files.
- 1131PL27R0001 - RFP.pdf (read)
- 1131PL27R0001 - Amendment 0001.pdf (read)
- 1131PL27R0001 - Preproposal_Conference_Presentation.pdf (read)
- 1131PL27R0001 - Attach 1 Past Performance Survey.docx (read)
Full summary
What they want
- Plan and run reverse trade missions, conferences, forums, workshops, trainings and other events in the U.S. or overseas, in person, virtual or hybrid
- Handle venues and vendors, domestic and international travel, lodging and ground transport, and support for foreign delegations and senior officials
- Recruit participants, speakers and U.S. companies; run outreach, marketing and registration
- Prepare agendas, itineraries, resource guides, briefing materials, websites and registration platforms, and arrange interpretation and translation
- Provide audiovisual and virtual event support and manage several events at once
- Report after each event: data collection, participant surveys, outcome reports and closeout
- Supply nine named staff roles at fixed hourly rates: Project Manager, Technical/Report Writer, Conference/Event Coordinator, Protocol Specialist, Logistics Coordinator, Technical/AV Support, Press/Communications Lead, Agenda Development and Speaker Coordinator, and Website, Content and Marketing Manager
- Contract type
- Multiple-award IDIQ with fixed hourly rates; task orders are firm-fixed-price (FFP: one set price, whatever the work ends up costing) with cost-reimbursable other direct costs (ODCs), such as international airfare, and no profit on ODCs
- Period of performance
- Base period April 4, 2027 through April 3, 2028, plus four 12-month option periods through April 3, 2032
- Place of performance
- USA per SAM.gov; events may be held anywhere in the United States or overseas, in person, virtually or hybrid
- Estimated value
- IDIQ ceiling (maximum) of $100,000,000.00 across all orders including options; up to $5,000,000.00 of services per contractor each year; maximum $3,000,000.00 per task order; minimum one task order per awardee
- How they'll choose
- Best-value tradeoff (the Government weighs quality against price): non-price factors combined are significantly more important than price. The 15 most highly rated responsive offerors join the pool; if fewer than 5 are small businesses, the 5 highest-rated small businesses are added.
- Offers due
- November 6, 2026, 12:00 PM Eastern
- How to submit
- Email to contractproposals@ustda.gov with the subject "1131PL27R0001: IQC" (per the pre-proposal conference slides)
- Page limits
- Technical proposal: 20 pages (the optional Experience Coverage Matrix counts toward it); Relevant past performance narrative: 3 pages total; Executive summary: 1 page (not evaluated); Resumes: 3 pages per person; cover page and table of contents don't count; Price volume: no limit
What they'll judge offers on
- Technical Expertise (three equal sub-factors): (a) Event Planning and Management Experience, (b) Sector Experience and Knowledge, (c) Management Approach and Staffing Capabilities
- Relevant Past Performance: up to three recent, relevant contracts or orders from the last five years; no record is rated Neutral
- Price: fixed hourly rates for nine labor categories across the base and four option periods, scored with a hypothetical labor mix given in Amendment 0001 (for example Project Manager 280 hours, Logistics Coordinator 300 hours)
What to include when you submit
- Send two separate volumes in Office or searchable PDF files: Volume I (technical proposal, past performance narrative, resumes) and Volume II (price, signed forms and certifications)
- Technical Sub-factor 1: give no more than 5 examples from the last 5 years, each with the event name, dates, location and a client contact's name, title, phone and email; examples without these are unresponsive
- Examples together must cover events of 100 to 1,000 attendees (at least one outside the United States and its territories), foreign delegations with senior representatives, multi-city or multi-country logistics, interpretation, outreach, marketing and speaker recruitment
- Past performance: list no more than 3 recent, relevant contracts, task or delivery orders, or major subcontracts (more than 20 percent of the total value), performed in the 5 years before the submission date
- Each reference must email its completed Past Performance Survey (Word form attached to the RFP) to contractproposals@ustda.gov by the closing date; a final CPARS (federal contractor performance report) may replace it
- One task order counts as one reference, even if it covered many events
- Name the people proposed for the nine labor categories and include a resume for each; each must meet the minimum qualifications for that role
- Volume II: cover page with the name, title, phone and email of the contact who can obligate your company, and who may negotiate; SF 1449 (Standard Form 1449, the form you sign and return as your offer) with blocks 17A, 30A, 30B and 30C completed
- Enter fixed hourly rates for all nine labor categories in all five periods in Section B.5.1, and also send fixed daily rates (eight-hour day) in an Excel spreadsheet; round all prices up, no cents
- Include signed amendments (SF 30) and any Section E provisions not completed electronically in SAM.gov
- Format: 8.5 x 11 inch pages, 1-inch margins, 12-point Arial or Times New Roman, tables at 8 points or larger, page numbers and company name with the solicitation number on each page; proposals valid at least 100 days (per the conference slides)
After award, you must have
- Other-than-small businesses submit a small business subcontracting plan to the contracting officer for approval within 30 days of IDIQ award From 1131PL27R0001 - Preproposal_Conference_Presentation.pdf:
Submit to Contracting Officer for approval within 30…
- The contract includes the clause for workers' compensation insurance under the Defense Base Act (coverage for work abroad) From 1131PL27R0001 - RFP.pdf:
52.228-3 Worker's Compensation Insurance (Defense Base Act) JUL 2014…
Current contractor
No incumbent is named. The pre-proposal slides show up to 15 potential awards, with at least 5 intended for small businesses.
Not in the notice text
- Part of the RFP (1131PL27R0001 - RFP.pdf) is attached but not read: roughly the middle third, from the Section D skills list to the proposal page-limit rules. The slides place the per-role minimum qualifications, the nationality rule (D.1.25), restrictions on work (D.1.26), the subcontracting plan (D.1.27) and general proposal rules there. Check the full RFP on SAM.gov.
- The anticipated award date is not given; the slides list it without a date.
- The exact minimum qualifications beyond years of experience for each of the nine roles are in Section D.1.4, which was partly cut off.
- Task order work, locations and schedules are set in each task order, so the actual workload is not stated.
Eligibility and how to respond
- Partly set aside for small businesses: part of the work is reserved for them, and the rest is open to any business. More open small business set-asides under NAICS 561920
- How to submit, from the AI summary: Email to contractproposals@ustda.gov with the subject "1131PL27R0001: IQC" (per the pre-proposal conference slides). Check it in the notice before you send anything.
- Service contracts usually set minimum pay rates (the Service Contract Act). Price the labor with the SCA price calculator.
Notice details
- Posted
- Oct 16, 2026
- Notice type
- Combined Synopsis/Solicitation
- Office
- US Trade and Development Agency, Arlington, VA
- Product/service code
- R706 · Support – Management: Logistics Support
- Business type
- Administrative & staffing support (FedReady's grouping, from NAICS 561920)
- Versions
2 versions have been posted, newest first.
- Oct 16, 2026 · Amendment 0001 (this version)Due Nov 6, 2026
- Oct 5, 2026 · Combined Synopsis/SolicitationDue Nov 6, 2026
- Attachments
Past awards and competition
Who has won work like this before, the likely incumbent, and what similar contracts paid, from USAspending.gov.
Before you respond
- How to respond to a solicitation (8 steps)
- How to read a government solicitation
- How to price a government contract
- Set-aside contracts explained
Terms on this notice: Solicitation, Set-aside
Full notice text from SAM.gov
USTDA requires a pool of qualified Contractors to plan, organize, and implement partnership-building activities that support the Agency’s mission, including reverse trade missions (RTMs), conferences, forums, workshops, trainings, and other events. Activities may take place anywhere in the United States or overseas and may be conducted in person, virtually, or in a hybrid format. USTDA may require multiple activities to be planned and implemented concurrently across different regions, sectors, and locations, including multiple events taking place simultaneously. Contractors must demonstrate the capacity and resources necessary to successfully manage and execute overlapping activities without compromising quality, responsiveness, or performance. Under this IDIQ, Contractors may be required to provide the full range of services necessary to successfully execute these activities. This includes, but is not limited to, event planning and project management; venue and vendor coordination; domestic and international travel and logistics; support for high-level foreign delegations and U.S. Government participants; participant recruitment, outreach, and registration; development of agendas, itineraries, and event materials; interpretation and translation; audiovisual and virtual event support; transportation, lodging, and other on-site logistics; and post-event monitoring, evaluation, data analysis, reporting, and closeout activities. Please see attached RFP for additional information regarding this solicitation.
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