Department of Commerce_Questions_to RFP 3.24.23.pdf

Department of Commerce – Enterprise Services Questions and Answers Log

Item # Ref. Page Ref. Section Question / Answer 1 02, 75 B.2 Contract Type

M.2. 1352.215.74 (b)

The solicitation states that this is a “multiple award Indefinite Delivery-Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ). How many awards does the government intend to make?

Answer The Government intents to make 2 or more awards.

2 04, 05 C.3.2 Manufacturers

Paoli and Inscape are listed as a manufacturer that the Contractor shall provide product from, however both are no longer in business. Can they be removed from the requirement?

Answer Paoli and Inscape can be removed from the requirement.

3 04, 05 C.3.2 Manufacturers

PBI (formerly an Allsteel dealer that has been recently acquired by COFCO and then Henricksen), Bialek (Herman Miller/Knoll Dealer) and Re-District (Steelcase Dealer) are listed as manufacturers, but these are dealerships that represent a few of the major furniture lines that are a requirement for the Contractor to provide.

Are these dealerships preferred vendors by the government? Please advise.

Answer Dealerships have been included in this list in recognition of the fact that some manufacturers have exclusivity agreements with specific dealerships. The listed dealerships are not preferred vendors. If additional dealerships are available to represent the listed manufacturers, they will be considered.

4 69 1352.215-72 Inquiries It is stated that questions shall be received no later than 14 days before the date specified for submission of proposals. Given that timeframe, how soon before answers will be issued to the impending questions? Answers will most likely impact proposal responses.

Answer RFP is amended to include an extension and response to questions.

5 1st Page OFFER DUE DATE/

LOCAL TIME

Currently the due date and time for the submission of the Contractor’s response for this solicitation is 27MAR2023 at 1500hours EST. Due to the significant requirements of this response and the broad range of manufacturer pricing that is being requested, is it possible to request an extension through Tuesday, April 4th, 2023?

Answer Amended issued to extend proposal due date to 7 April 2023, 11am EST 6 04, 05 C.3.2 Manufacturers Will every RFQ have a specified manufacturer requested in the response or will some RFQ’s be open to any manufacturer noted in Section C.3.2 – allowing the contractor to choose which approved manufacturer they feel best meets the requirement?

Answer Some RFQs will be open to any manufacturer noted in Section C.3.2 7 07 C.3.3.3 Installation

Services It is stated that outstanding deficiencies must be corrected within 10 days. Is this referring to the final punch list or warranty items post substantial completion?

Is it understood that any touch-up or installation modifications must be completed in 10 days, but any product replacements are dependent upon manufacturer lead times? Please clarify how this 10 working days timeframe will be used.

Answer Manufacturer lead times will be considered when setting the schedule for resolving deficiencies.

8 71 Volume 1 - Technical Are Key Personnel resumes included in the 25-page limit for Volume 1?

Answer Exclude key personnel from page limit within the technical volume.

9 71 Volume 1 – Technical States that offeror must certify the ability the products of all requested manufacturers in C.3.2. How would you like this certified – a simple letter stating compliance, or a letter from each manufacturer, or a Teaming Agreement?

Answer A letter from each manufacturer/entity listed in C.3.2 is acceptable.

10 74 Volume III – Price States a copy of each MPL is required. Will you accept links to each MPL or electronic copies?

Answer Electronic copies are required.

11 N/A General Is this a recompete of a previous contract? If yes, who are the incumbents?

Answer Flatwater Solutions Company and Mark G. Anderson Consultants

12 N/A General What was the ceiling value of the previous contract and what was the actual spending?

Answer Ceiling value was $100M; Actual spend was $30M 13 70 L.3.A General

Instructions Will the Government allow the use of Arial 9 point font for tables and graphics?

Answer Yes 14 70 L.3.A General

Instructions Are key personnel resumes included in the 25 page limit for the technical volume?

Answer Exclude key personnel from page limit within the technical volume.

15 71 L.3.B Specific

Instructions Will the Government consider excluding key personnel resumes from the 25 page limit for the technical volume?

Answer Exclude key personnel from page limit within the technical volume.

16 06 B.4 Fair Opportunity Please clarify what is the simplified acquisition threshold that will be applicable for this requirement.

Answer $250,000.00 17 07 C.3.2 Manufacturers Please clarify if offerors are limited to only providing pricing on products from the listed manufacturers? For example, will the Government accept pricing for AIS and Haworth product in addition to the listed manufacturers? If no, should offerors submit additional manufacturers with their proposal now or at the order level if successfully awarded the IDIQ?

Answer Please provide pricing only on the products from the listed manufacturers/entities.

18 14 C.15.4 Periodic Progress

Meetings This section states that Contractor shall be required to attend such meetings as requested by the contracting activity. Please clarify if this progress meeting will be held only if there are active projects/call orders underway.

Also, please clarify if multiple projects can be covered under this requirement of if separate progress meetings need to be held per project. Lastly, please clarify if this meeting can be held virtually or if it must be held in person.

Answer Progress meetings are only required for active projects. Multiple projects can be covered in a single meeting.

Meetings can be held virtually.

19 N/A General Please confirm that this solicitation is open market and not GSA. Is the use of the GSA Published Schedules only for the purpose of evaluation of the RFQ pricing module and to establish a long-term binding minimum discount pricing determination?

Answer Yes. This solicitation is open market. Yes. The use of GSA Publish Schedule is to establish minimum discount pricing determinations.

20 N/A General Will the Prime Contractor(s) obtain a Letter of Authorization from the Department to allow for product to be procured and priced under the GSA Schedule? Also, will the Department issue a Certificate of Tax Exemption to eliminate sales tax?

Answer Yes, upon request an LOA can be provided to the prime as well as a Tax Exemption Certificate.

21 4,5 C.3.2 On Attachment J.1 and on Pages 4 and 5 of the solicitation, Inscape, Paoli and PBI are listed. Inscape and Paoli are manufacturers that have gone out of business. PBI was a dealer that was bought out and no longer identifies as PBI and is not a manufacturer. Please confirm that discounts/pricing on J.1 is not required for these 3 listed companies.

Answer Pricing is not required for Inscape, Paoli or PBI.

22 N/A J.1 On Attachment J.1 there is one line for each manufacturer’s discount structure, but each manufacturer has multiple lines. There are multiple lines for seating, multiple lines for workstations, private offices etc... Will the government allow the Attachment J.1 spreadsheet to be expanded/altered to include the many lines of furniture per each manufacturer?

Answer No modifications to the spreadsheet are allowed; please aggregate discounts as appropriate.

23 74 L.Price

Requirement: “Submit a copy of the MPL” There are many price books for each manufacturer (could be up to 50 per manufacturer). Will the government accept electronic links to fulfill the MPL requirement?

Answer Electronic copies are required.

24 N/A C.3.2 Manufacturers Bialek and ReDistrict are not manufacturers but are a couple of the dealers in the area. Can these both be removed from the list of manufacturers?

Answer Dealerships have been included in this area in recognition of the fact that some manufacturers have exclusivity agreements with specific dealerships. The listed dealerships are not preferred vendors. If additional dealerships are available to represent the listed manufacturers, they will be considered.

25 N/A C.3.2 Manufacturers Paoli is no longer in business. They closed their doors in early 2018. Recommend removing

Answer Paoli can be removed from the requirement.

26 N/A C.3.2 Manufacturers

PBI is listed and I’m not familiar with them as a manufacturer. Could they be known as another name?

Answer PBI is a dealership and can be removed from the requirement.

27 N/A C.3.2 Manufacturers Herman Miller-Herman Miller and Knoll have merged and now they are considered one manufacturer-

MillerKnoll

Answer Noted. Please substitute MillerKnoll for Herman Miller throughout.

28 N/A General Under the current contract we have been providing relocation services as part of this contract but I do not see any references to that service. How would you like to proceed with that service offering? We are currently providing that service consistently to NOAA under the current contract.

Answer Yes, relocation services are added.

29 5 General The scope of work on page 5 indicates that an onsite PIM will be required by the contractor yet they are not mentioned in Key personnel. Would this requirement be fulfilled by our onsite foreman that is part of the subcontracted installation team? This individual will be different for every product manufacturer type and location.

Answer On-site project management oversight will be determined at the order level. This responsibility may rest with the contract holder, the dealership, or the installation team and should be set at the kick-off meeting for each award.

30 N/A General Inscape is no longer in business (they were DOC’s demountable wall manufacturer)-how do you want to handle pricing for walls? Steelcase has been providing wall products to NOAA, most other manufacturers provide wall products in several categories-would you like us to have them provide discounting on any and all manufacturers within the list that provide walls?

Answer Inscape can be removed from the requirement. No alternate will be provided for this solicitation.