S06 36C10A21Q0060 A0003.docx

36C10A21Q0060 A00003

5. PROJECT NUMBER (if applicable)

CODE

7. ADMINISTERED BY

2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NUMBER

CODE

6. ISSUED BY

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR

4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NUMBER

3. EFFECTIVE DATE

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NUMBER

9B. DATED

PAGE OF PAGES

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NUMBER

10B. DATED

BPA NO.

1. CONTRACT ID CODE

FACILITY CODE

CODE

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended, by one of the following methods:

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers

E. IMPORTANT:

is extended,

(a) By completing Items 8 and 15, and returning __________ copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted; or (c) By separate letter or electronic communication which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY is not extended.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA

(REV. 11/2016)

is required to sign this document and return ___________ copies to the issuing office.

is not, A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT ORDER NO. IN ITEM 10A.

15C. DATE SIGNED

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment you desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by letter or electronic communication, provided each letter or electronic communication makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER

Contractor

16C. DATE SIGNED

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION

16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER

15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR

STANDARD FORM 30

PREVIOUS EDITION NOT USABLE

Prescribed by GSA - FAR (48 CFR) 53.243 (Type or print) (Type or print) (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

(Number, street, county, State and ZIP Code) (If other than Item 6) (Specify type of modification and authority) (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc.)

(If required)

(SEE ITEM 11)

(SEE ITEM 13)

(X)

CHECK

ONE

13. THIS ITEM APPLIES ONLY TO MODIFICATIONS OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS,

IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT

(Signature of person authorized to sign) (Signature of Contracting Officer) TAC-Austin

9/15/2021 104-21-4-8225-0009

Department of Veterans Affairs Technology Acquisition Center - Austin

1701 Directors Blvd, Suite 600 Austin TX 78744

Y Department of Veterans Affairs Technology Acquisition Center - Austin

1701 Directors Blvd, Suite 600 Austin TX 78744 To all Offerors/Bidders

36C10A21Q0060 8/13/2021

X

The Purpose of this amendment is to provide answers to questions received.

RFP/RFQ amended: Bids due 9/20/2021 12:00PM CDT

See continuation pages.

Kari L. Cozzens

RFQ 36C10A21Q0060

Electronic Invoicing Solution

Answer: See RFP section E. “II. FAR 52.212-2 EVALUATION—COMMERCIAL ITEMS” The Virtual Pre-Recorded Demonstration is more important than the Technical Factor, which is more important than the Past Performance Factor, which is more important than the Vets Involvement Factor, which is more important than the Price Factor. When combined, the non-price factors are significantly more important than price. Offerors are cautioned that any resulting award may not necessarily be made to the lowest price offered or the most highly rated Technical proposal. The Government intends to award a single contract as a result of this solicitation. Offerors not considered the most highly rated will be eliminated from the competition.

Answer: The timeline shall be outlined in your company’s technical factor response.

Question: Does the VA want this link “searchable and available” to anyone across the globe with internet access?

(If this is the case – there is a conflict with this requirement because competitors would have access to proprietary technology through this demo).

Question: Would the VA consider more of a secure site that we submit a dedicated URL to - that it is accessible to the VA general population for the purpose of watching and grading the video demo?

(We have pertinent and specific VA information that we would like to include in our demo – but are concerned that this hinders our ability to show the true power and relationship that we currently have as the incumbent).

Answer: The link must be accessible from any standard internet browser with no log in requirement

Answer: The video demonstration shall be a Link to video submitted as part of the offeror’s proposal email; VA will confirm the link works via reply email back to the offeror prior to the closing time. Offeror are advised to submit offerors in sufficient time to allow VA to confirm link works.

Answer: Offerors shall confirm how the requirements of PWS 6.0 will be adhered to.

Answer: Delivery is not necessary, a pdf included in the Technical Factor volume will suffice. Amended RFQ will correct.

Answer: FAR 52.212-4 CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDITIONS-COMMERCIAL ITEMS applies to all other CLINs.

Answer: This network is intended for commercial invoices only. No Personal Health Information or Electronic PHI should be sent over it.

Answer: See Amendment A00001, which extended the due date to September 17.

Answer: This solicitation is open market and not a GSA RFQ.

Under the Schedule and Supplier Services tab, Item 0002 requests costs for the eInvoicing solution. In the CLIN 0002 tab, there is a request for "per transaction" pricing.

Further, in the Limited Sources Justification (TAC Control Number TAC-20-57243), it states “VA estimates that recreating over 450 automated interfaces to a new e-invoicing solution would require a transition period in excess of 2 years for successful completion. This estimated transition period is based on previous experience with the initial Tungsten implementation and time required to migrate all vendor data to their portal. Other potential offerors have confirmed this transition period would be 11-14 months from date of new contract award”

While the government allows under PWS 5.2.1 for the offeror to perform the integration work necessary to implement a new solution, it does not appear to offer a CLIN to price the initial development and integration work described in 5.2.1 in the pricing book provided in Exhibit A. This omission appears to be an oversight since the government is competing this requirement instead of single sourcing it to the incumbent. Can the government please clarify its intent?

Answer: The reference to the Limited Sources Justification is not applicable to this solicitation. The price for implementation shall be included in the offeror’s pricing. The basis in Exhibit A can describe the amounts included for initial development and integration.

Answer: . VA’s “as is” state is the 834K to 1M transactions per year. Based on the historical data, , the “to be” state is the expected 5 percent growth each year. Our “could be” state is the 3M to 35M surge. If VA experiences the surge, not all transactions will be occur at once; therefore, tiered pricing (per 1M transactions) is required.

Answer: Internal users ~300 External users ~65K.

Answer: Paragraph 5.2.1.j. requires the awardee to provide an existing nationwide vendor/supplier e-Invoicing network. Any additional accreditation or other requirements needed for full implementation shall be included in the offeror’s technical factor volume, timeline, and price.

Will the government please provide architectural diagrams and any other system documentation of the existing integrations that the incumbent has access to?

Answer: Future integrations with other Government agencies will depend on their specific requirements. As an example, most of the agencies VA provides e-invoicing services to rely on Purchase Orders as one of their required elements. However, a recent agency uses Authorization Numbers instead of POs. The current contractor sends invoice data hourly, in an ANSI X-12810 format. The format is updated annually by the VA. The data file is transmitted to the VA over a secure AS2 connection. Below is an architectural diagram:

Will that initial setup of any custom implementation be covered under the Hyper Support CLIN?

Answer: VA may use the Hyper Care CLIN if it is necessary. This will depend on the nature/complexity/urgency of the implementation.

The wording removed from the prior PWS (Draft) listed a gradual phase-out occurring over 18 months. The current PWS mentions 3-months in Section 4.1 – which causes confusion. Please clarify.

Answer: The POP for this task is 3 months.

Answer: Section 4.1 contained an error and should have read 5.6.1. and 5.6.2. The amended PWS corrects the reference in 4.1

PWS 4.1

5.6.1, 5.6.2 Question: Transition and Consulting Services are referenced in PWS Section 4.1 – however Consulting Services is not described in the PWS at all. Please provide details as to what the government requires for Consulting Services. How will these services be priced (under what CLIN)?

Question: Section 4.1 is referring to task 5.6 Transition Services. The amended PWS corrects the title of the task in section 4.1.

Answer: The link must be accessible from any standard internet browser with no log in requirement.

Answer: After the offeror’s contract has completed and should another contractor be awarded this follow-on contract, the offeror will cooperate and communicate willingly and effectively with the new contractor and provide transitional support for all program-related activities post contract. The offeror’s management team will ensure the transition process is adequately monitored, tracked, and executed so that no work requirements are lost during the transition.

Answer: Regretfully, no.

Answer: Regretfully no because, it wouldn’t reflect the complete picture. We are a Franchise Fund and will always endeavor to attract other Federal Agencies to our business lines – in this case, e-invoicing. Our “as is” state is the 834K to 1M transactions. Based on the history of this business line, our “to be” state is the expected 5% growth each year noted in the PWS. Our “could be” state (if we succeed in attracting other Fed Agencies) is the 3M to 35M surge, also noted in the PWS. If we experience the surge, it will not come to us all at once like a faucet being turned on. That’s why the PWS also required a tiered (per 1M transactions) solution.

Answer: Thank you for the recommendation.

Answer: We may use the Hyper Care CLIN if it is necessary. It will depend on the nature/complexity/urgency of the implementation.

Answer: Regretfully, no.

Answer: Extension was granted

Answer: This will be defined once the contract is awarded.

We recommend expanding this stipulation further to state that the e-Invoicing service provider should be able to accept any format of structured invoice data and convert that to any format required by the VA. This would benefit the VA when onboarding vendors and would directly affect the services they receive.

Answer: Thank you for the recommendation.

Answer: Regretfully, no.

Answer: PWS updated

Answer: Other Federal agencies that are interested in adopting our e-invoicing service.

Answer: Not at this time

1. Please provide a historical record on how many times these types of changes have been completed in the past 3 years. Answer: Annually, by sending the incumbent an Implementation Guide.

2. Based on this being FFP contract – please acknowledge that this type of support will be handled under the Hyper Support CLIN. Answer: No, it will not.

Answer: We’ve had two new government customers for our e-invoicing services in the last three years. The implementation of one new customer required the use of the Hyper Care CLIN, one did not.

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