Solicitation
U.S. Embassy Mexico—International Narcotics & Law Enforcement Affairs (INL Mexico) CONOCER Criminal Analyst Certification Services
Department of State
AI summaryThe State Department (Bureau of Global Acquisitions, for the U.S. Embassy Mexico's International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs office, INL) wants a contractor to run Mexican government CONOCER certification evaluations (CONOCER is Mexico's national labor skills standards council) for criminal analysts, in person across Mexico. It plans several firm-fixed-price (FFP) indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ: orders placed as needed) contracts, with a five-year ordering period from December 1, 2026 to November 30, 2031. The competition is unrestricted, not a small business set-aside. The response due date is November 6, 2026, 5:00 PM Central, moved from November 1, 2026 by Amendment 0001. More in the summary
AI summary Beta
This summary may miss requirements: 2 of 7 attachments weren't read (19AQMR26Q0469 A0001 Attachment 2.1 -TORP1 Pricing Spreadsheet.xlsx, 19AQMM26Q0469 Attachment 2 A0001 - Pricing Spreadsheet.xlsx). Check the attachments on SAM.gov.
The State Department (Bureau of Global Acquisitions, for the U.S. Embassy Mexico's International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs office, INL) wants a contractor to run Mexican government CONOCER certification evaluations (CONOCER is Mexico's national labor skills standards council) for criminal analysts, in person across Mexico. It plans several firm-fixed-price (FFP) indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ: orders placed as needed) contracts, with a five-year ordering period from December 1, 2026 to November 30, 2031. The competition is unrestricted, not a small business set-aside. The response due date is November 6, 2026, 5:00 PM Central, moved from November 1, 2026 by Amendment 0001.
Who can bid
- Be formally registered with CONOCER as an Evaluation and Certification Institution and accredited for Competency Standard EC1599. The prime, a subcontractor, a teaming partner or a joint venture member may hold this registration, and it must stay current for the whole contract.
- Have at least six evaluators recognized and certified by CONOCER, each with at least two years of criminal analysis work in Mexican government security or justice institutions, two years of criminal justice experience since 2016, and Spanish at level 4/4
- Active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM)
Things to watch (12)
From the version posted Oct 19, 2026.
- Serious: CONOCER registration needed, from you or a partner. The work is certifying Mexican analysts under a Mexican standard, so a business without CONOCER registration and EC1599 accreditation needs a registered partner with a signed commitment.
- Serious: Six named evaluators with Mexican credentials due with the quote. Evaluators must be named in the quote with certificates, résumés, commitment letters and Spanish at level 4/4, and any requirement a résumé does not clearly support counts as not met.
- Serious: Work abroad: Mexican VAT paperwork. VAT is 16% and is repaid to the contractor only with Mexican tax invoices (facturas) from a Mexican company or a Mexican tax registration, so the repayment can be less than the VAT line price.
Show all 12Show fewer
- Worth checking: In-person work in any state of Mexico. Locations are set by INL at least 14 days ahead and can be anywhere in Mexico, depending on safety and health conditions, with evaluators travelling for week-long sessions.
- Worth checking: One fixed travel price for the whole country. Travel is one firm fixed rate per evaluator for a one-week session that covers lodging, meals and travel time and cannot be adjusted for the actual location.
- Worth checking: Pay depends on candidates passing. Evaluations are paid per evaluation, but certification is paid only for certificates actually issued to approved candidates, and unit prices must not assume a pass rate.
- Worth checking: Quantities differ between documents. The statement of work estimates 850 evaluations and up to 850 certifications; the questions and answers cite 432 evaluations, 432 certifications and 36 evaluator travel events in the pricing spreadsheets for Task Order 1.
- Worth checking: Limit on number of evaluators is unclear. The instructions say there is no limit on proposed evaluators, but the answers to questions say no more than 10 résumés; ask the contracting officer which governs.
- Worth checking: Incomplete price matrix is rejected. A price matrix with missing or wrong cells is not evaluated at all, so every required cell must be filled in.
- Minor: Later orders are won on price. Several firms may get an IDIQ, and later task orders go through price competition among them, so only the minimum $5,000 is guaranteed.
- Minor: VAT rules point to different sections. The questions and answers say VAT is governed by Section C.2 and Section 12 of the statement of work was removed, but the amended statement of work still has a Section 12 on VAT and CLIN 004 refers to Section 11.
- Minor: Short lead times and cancellations. Evaluations must start 5 business days after INL sends a participant list, and INL can cancel a session with one week of notice at no penalty.
Read from the notice and 5 attachments. 2 of 7 not read. Show which files.
- 19AQMM26Q0469 SF1449.pdf (read)
- 19AQMM26Q0469 QA FINAL.pdf (read)
- 19AQMM26Q0469 A0001 SF30.pdf (read)
- 19AQMM26Q0469 A0001 Attachment 1.pdf (read)
- 19AQMR26Q0469 Attachment 3 PPIQ.docx (read)
- 19AQMR26Q0469 A0001 Attachment 2.1 -TORP1 Pricing Spreadsheet.xlsx: not read (the AI doesn't read this file type yet): open it on SAM.gov
- 19AQMM26Q0469 Attachment 2 A0001 - Pricing Spreadsheet.xlsx: not read (the AI doesn't read this file type yet): open it on SAM.gov
Full summary
What they want
- Run Competency Standard EC1599 certification evaluations (about 850 estimated) for Mexican federal and state criminal analysts, in Spanish, in person
- Provide at least six named CONOCER-certified evaluators, with three evaluators per group of 17 to 24 analysts
- Register each candidate with CONOCER, tell INL and each candidate who passed, and obtain certificates for approved candidates
- Send INL a work plan, participant list every Friday, group roster, certificate copies and an end-of-project global report
- Price travel as one firm fixed rate good for any location in Mexico, and price Mexican value added tax (VAT) separately
- Be ready to add other CONOCER standards later, at prices agreed after award
- Contract type
- Multiple-award IDIQ, firm-fixed-price (FFP: one set price per unit), awarded as a purchase order under FAR Part 12; the Government may issue Task Order 1 with the award
- Period of performance
- Five-year ordering period, December 1, 2026 to November 30, 2031
- Place of performance
- In person at state and federal law enforcement and justice institutions in any state of Mexico; INL gives the locations at least 14 days before each evaluation starts
- Estimated value
- Total of all orders under any resulting IDIQ cannot exceed $5,000,000; guaranteed minimum is $5,000
- How they'll choose
- Best value tradeoff (not lowest price technically acceptable): technical factors combined are more important than price; past performance is pass/fail; price is checked for reasonableness with no realism analysis and VAT is left out of the evaluated price
- Offers due
- November 6, 2026, 5:00 PM Central
- Page limits
- Evaluator résumés: 2 pages each, single spaced
What they'll judge offers on
- Key Personnel/Resume (Factor 1): each proposed evaluator judged on their own résumé against the SOW experience requirements
- Technical Approach (Factor 2): how you will recruit key personnel and run the evaluation sessions logistically
- Relevant Corporate Experience (Factor 3): CONOCER registration, evaluator cadre, crime analysis, U.S. Government and Mexico work
- Past Performance (Factor 4): quality of work in the past five years, pass/fail
- Price: evaluated for reasonableness in U.S. dollars; options included; VAT excluded
What to include when you submit
- Send three volumes: Volume I administrative, Volume II technical (no price information), Volume III price
- Volume I: forms that need input or a signature, an optional cover letter (not evaluated), up to two people authorized to negotiate, and representations and certifications unless current in SAM
- Volume II: a table of contents and any exceptions or deviations, with the benefit to the Government for each
- Name at least six evaluators with a résumé of no more than 2 pages each, plus each one's CONOCER evaluator certificate, EC1599 certificate with folio number, and a signed commitment letter
- Show each evaluator is registered under your CONOCER accreditation as an Evaluation and Certification Institution; certificates must be current in CONOCER's national registry (RENAP)
- If a subcontractor, teaming partner or joint venture member holds the CONOCER registration: identify it, show its registration and EC1599 accreditation, and include a signed commitment letter, teaming agreement or joint venture agreement
- Technical approach: explain how you will recruit key personnel and run the sessions logistically
- Relevant corporate experience: up to three contracts by you and up to three by each proposed subcontractor or other performing entity; for subcontract work name the prime and your percentage of the contract value
- Past performance: at least three but not more than five examples, none older than 60 months, each with a Past Performance Information Form (Attachment 3); list any contracts terminated in the last 60 months
- Ask each past performance reference to return the Past Performance Questionnaire directly to ModrakER@state.gov by the response due date
- Volume III: complete every required cell of the Attachment 2 Vol III Vendor Price Matrix (Excel .xlsx file), in U.S. dollars only
- To be considered for Task Order 1, also include the Attachment 2.1 pricing spreadsheet for Task Order 1 (TORP #1) in Volume III
- Acknowledge Amendment 0001 with your quote
- Contact only the contracting officer about this solicitation
After award, you must have
- Contractor staff and subcontractors sign an Employee/Contractor Non-Disclosure Agreement form
- Send INL personal details for each approved evaluator for a vetting check called Courtesy Vetting Plus, by email after award From 19AQMM26Q0469 A0001 Attachment 1.pdf:
Evaluators should comply with a "Courtesy Vetting Plus" process.
Current contractor
No incumbent is named, and no follow-on, recompete or previous contract number is mentioned. The Government intends to award multiple IDIQ contracts; the number of awards is not stated.
Not in the notice text
- The middle of the SF1449 and Amendment 0001 PDFs (about 185,000 characters each, including how and where to send the quote and most of the clauses) was not read, and two pricing spreadsheets (Attachment 2 and Attachment 2.1) are attached but not read; check them on SAM.gov
- How and where to submit the quote is not in the text read
- Unit quantities in the pricing spreadsheets, and the amount of each year's ordering, are not stated in the text read
- The number of IDIQ awards planned is not stated
- Whether a bond, insurance or other business license is required is not stated in the text read
Eligibility and how to respond
- No set-aside: any business, large or small, can bid unless the notice says otherwise.
- How and where to submit is in the notice text and its attachments on SAM.gov.
- Service contracts usually set minimum pay rates (the Service Contract Act). Price the labor with the SCA price calculator.
Notice details
- Posted
- Oct 19, 2026
- Notice type
- Solicitation
- Office
- Acquisitions - Aqm Momentum, Washington, DC
- Product/service code
- U005 · Education/Training – Tuition/Registration/Membership Fees
- Business type
- Consulting & professional services (FedReady's grouping, from NAICS 541990)
- Versions
3 versions have been posted, newest first.
- Oct 19, 2026 · Amendment 0001 (this version)Due Nov 6, 2026 (changed)
- Sep 26, 2026 · SolicitationDue Nov 1, 2026 (changed)
- Sep 10, 2026 · PresolicitationDate Oct 15, 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
Terms on this notice: Solicitation
Full notice text from SAM.gov
U.S. Embassy Mexico—International Narcotics & Law Enforcement Affairs (INL Mexico) CONOCER Criminal Analyst Certification Services One of the objectives in INL Mexico programming is to strengthen the capacity of security and justice sector actors to reduce impunity for crime and protect human rights. Under this Statement of Work (SOW), the Contractor shall perform all required services to certify Government of Mexico State and Federal Crime Analysts assigned to high-impact crimes and investigations units in the CONOCER Competency Standard. Other CONOCER Competency Standards and certifications are also included in the scope of this requirement. The purpose of amendment 0001 is to: 1) Correct the applicable NAICS code that previously appeared on the SF1449 from 541519 to 541990 in alignment with Section B. 2) Extend the time for submission of quotations to 11/06/26 5:00PM CST. 3) Incorporate an updated Attachment 1 SOW 4) Incorporate an updated Attachment 2 Pricing Spreadsheet and 2.1Pricing Spreadsheet for TORP1. 5) Make other updates to the solicitation corresponding with the Q&A posted alongside Amendment 0001, including but not limited to: a) Removing clause 52.219-6 b) Updates within Section L
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