36C10F23R0095 - Allentown PA OPC - RLP Amendment 2 - Pre-Bid Meeting Transcript.pdf

· · · · · · · · · ·COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

· · · · · · · · · DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

· · · · · IN RE: REAL ESTATE DEVELOPERS TO MEET WITH THE

· · · · · · · · · DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

· · · · · · · · · · · · ·PREBID CONFERENCE

· · ·BEFORE:· · GREG LAZAR, Member

· · · · · · · · Robert Calarco, Member

· · · · · · · · Orlando Mirarchai, Member

· · · · · · · · Martha Weekly, Member

· · · · · · · · Cynthia White, Member

· · ·HEARING:· ·Tuesday, November 28, 2023

· · · · · · · · 10:01 a.m.

· · ·LOCATION:· Allentown Public Library

· · · · · · · · 1210 Hamilton Street

· · · · · · · · Allentown, PA· 18102

· · ·WITNESSES: None

· · · · · · · · · · Reporter: Jessica L. Ashman

· · · · · · · · Any reproduction of this transcript

· · · · · · · · is prohibited without authorization

· · · · · · · · · · ·by the certifying agency

·1· · · · · · · · · · ·A P P E A R A N C E S

·2

·3· ·ADDITIONAL MEMBERS:

·4· ·JAMES CASSIDY

·5· ·VALERIE CARRENO

·6

·7· ·ALSO PRESENT:

·8· ·DR. KATRINA BAPTISTE

·9· ·APARNA MASICAR

10· ·GINA OWEN

11· ·BRIAN HILTON

12· ·JASON LAMBIE

·1· · · · · · · · · · · · · ·I N D E X

·2

·3· ·OPENING REMARKS

·4· · · By Ms. White· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·5 - 9

·5· ·TESTIMONY

·6· · · By Mr. Cassidy· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 9 - 14

·7· ·TESTIMONY

·8· · · By Ms. Carreno· · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·14 - 23

·9· ·TESTIMONY

10· · · By Mr. Cassidy· · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·23 - 27

11· ·TESTIMONY

12· · · By Ms. Weekly· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 27 - 29

13· ·TESTIMONY

14· · · By Mr. Cassidy· · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·29 - 33

15· ·DISCUSSION AMONG PARTIES· · · · · · · · · · · 33 - 34

16· ·CERTIFICATE· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 35

·1· · · · · · · · · · · · E X H I B I T S

·2

·3· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Page

·4· ·Number· ·Description· · · · · · · · · · · · · Offered

·5· · · · · · · · · · · · ·NONE OFFERED

·6

·7

·8

·9

·1· · · · · · · · · · ·P R O C E E D I N G S

·2· ·-----------------------------------------------------

·3· ·MS. WHITE:

·4· ·Good morning, everyone.· Glad to see

·5· ·you guys smiling faces this morning.· We’re going to

·6· ·go ahead and get started.· We’re here today for the

·7· ·conference for the outpatient clinic that will be

·8· ·located in Allentown, Pennsylvania.· Our agenda for

·9· ·today is we’re going to have our introductions and

10· ·opening remarks.· We’ll have opening remarks from the

11· ·medical center.· We’ll have a project overview.

12· ·We’ll also have an RLP package overview where we’ll

13· ·discuss the sections of the RLP and how to submit an

14· ·offer.· We’ll have a design overview where we’ll

15· ·discuss the appendices.· We’ll review the standard

16· ·forms and clauses.· We’ll discuss key procurement

17· ·updates.· And then we’ll have a Q and A session at

18· ·the end, and then we’ll wrap things up.

19· ·So my name is Cynthia White.· I am the

20· ·senior leasing contracting officer from the Office of

21· ·Real Property Construction and Facilities Management

22· ·out of Washington, DC.· We’ll start with the VA staff

23· ·and have each person stand and introduce themselves.

24· ·MR. MIRARCHAI:· Good morning.· My name

25· ·is Orlando Mirarchai.· I am the Chief of Facilities

·1· ·at the Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center.

·2· ·MR. CALARCO:

·3· ·My name is Bob Calarco.· I’m the Chief

·4· ·of Projects at the Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center.

·5· ·MR. LAZAR:

·6· ·Greg Lazar, I’m a Resident Engineer for

·7· ·the Office of Real Property for the VA.

·8· ·MS. WHITE:

·9· ·We’ll also have representatives from

10· ·the medical center.· We’re going to have Doctor

11· ·Damascus and Gina Dixon introduce themselves as well.

12· ·MS. DIXON:

13· ·Hi, I’m Gina Dixon.

14· ·DOCTOR DAMASCUS:

15· ·Hi, I’m Doctor Damascus.

16· ·MR. CASSIDY:

17· ·On the contractor side for the project, 18· ·on the broker side, my name is James Cassidy.· I’m

19· ·with DHC Real Estate Services.· And we’ll be the

20· ·broker and transaction managers for the project.

21· ·MS. WHITE:

22· ·And we have our partners, our advisors, 23· ·which is the A firm and the broker firm.· So James is

24· ·from the broker firm.· He’s been with us from the

25· ·time that we put out the expression of interest until

·1· ·we do acceptance of the building.· And also, Val, you

·2· ·can introduce yourself.

·3· ·MS. CARRENO:

·4· ·Hi, I’m Val Carreno.· I’m a senior

·5· ·transaction manager with Cushman and Wakefield, ·6· ·working in partnership with DHC.

·7· ·MS. WHITE:

·8· ·And we have Martha.

·9· ·MS. WEEKLY:

10· ·Hi there, Martha Weekly with FFE with

11· ·the AE firm on the project.

12· ·MS. WHITE:

13· ·Thank you, Martha.· We also have here

14· ·with us she is en route my senior lead leasing

15· ·contracting officer, Doctor Katrina Baptiste.· When

16· ·she comes in, I’ll have her introduce herself to

17· ·everyone.· I know that a lot of you are familiar with

18· ·Katrina, so she’ll be here shortly.· So what we’ll

19· ·do, we’ll go into some protocol regarding questions

20· ·and/or statements.· This prebid conference is being

21· ·recorded. We do have a stenographer in the room, so

22· ·please make sure that you speak clearly and slowly so

23· ·that she can record everything that is being said so

24· ·that she’ll provide a transcript for us as well.

25· ·Please hold all questions until the

·1· ·end. When you have a question, please state your name

·2· ·and organization you represent.· All questions must

·3· ·be submitted in writing to the lease contracting

·4· ·officer and broker and must reference the RLP

·5· ·paragraph and section by 04:00 p.m. Eastern time on

·6· ·December 6, 2023.· And those questions will be

·7· ·submitted to myself, Cynthia White.· And again, these

·8· ·slides will be given to --- will be uploaded as an

·9· ·amendment on SAM.Gov.· So if you don’t get to write

10· ·it down, it’s okay.· But they’ll be submitted to

11· ·myself, Cynthia, and to James Cassidy as well.

12· ·Respect procurement integrity and sensitivity.· These

13· ·things are very important, especially the procurement

14· ·integrity and sensitivity, because it could make a

15· ·break of procurement.

16· ·And my job is to make sure that we

17· ·protect the procurement and to protect the data.

18· ·That is very important.· Very important.· The purpose

19· ·of the prebid is to provide a general overview of

20· ·requirements set forth in RLP number.· This is

21· ·the number, I’m sorry, in the RLP.· The number for

22· ·the RLP is 36Charlie10Frank23Roger0095.

23· ·Another purpose of the prebid

24· ·conference is to encourage offers to refer to the RLP

25· ·package for a complete understanding of the

·1· ·requirements to submit fully responsive and

·2· ·technically acceptable proposals. That’s to make sure

·3· ·that your proposal that you’re submitting is clear

·4· ·and concise.· It is to answer questions of interested

·5· ·parties related to the RLP. It’s also to promote

·6· ·competition.· We have set this aside as an STBPST, so

·7· ·we do have competition enhancements set aside.· And

·8· ·again, VA will provide a conference transcript and

·9· ·PowerPoint presentation of the prebid meeting on

10· ·SAM.Gov.· Doctor Katrina Baptiste just walked in.

11· ·I’ll have Katrina introduce herself.

12· ·DOCTOR BAPTISTE:

13· ·Hello.

14· ·MR. CASSIDY:

15· ·Right into it.· Katrina, do you want to

16· ·take a couple words or you want to keep going?

17· ·DOCTOR BAPTISTE:

18· ·Keep going.

19· ·MS. WHITE:

20· ·Okay.· Great.· So now we’re going to

21· ·turn this over to our advisor, James Cassidy.· He’s

22· ·going to do the project overview.

23· ·MR. CASSIDY:

24· ·Thanks, Cynthia.· And just you can

25· ·click the link I’ll come up, that way you don’t have

·1· ·to fumble.· Yeah.· So we add this on just a very

·2· ·macro overview of what this says.· Okay.· Obviously

·3· ·there’s an outpatient clinic it’s in Allentown, ·4· ·Pennsylvania.· It’s kind of facilities brand new

·5· ·outpatient clinic in Allentown.· Probably the biggest

·6· ·point on this slide, this is an SVUSB set aside.· So

·7· ·right on the front page of the RLP, if you haven’t

·8· ·read anything yet, it’s right on the front page.· So

·9· ·if your entity is not an SVUSB, or you don’t have a

10· ·JV that set up as an SVUSB, you’re not permitted to

11· ·you can’t respond back to our office.· So that’s a

12· ·very key takeaway ---.

13· ·In terms of what we’re looking for a

14· ·size, the minimum size requirement in terms of a BOA

15· ·that the VA is looking for is 83,354 square feet up

16· ·to the maximum BOA, it can’t go past the 89,063 that

17· ·yields on the RSF side, it yields 110.· I got the

18· ·exact number because I want to get it right, 110,321

19· ·rentable square feet.· So the BOA can’t yield more

20· ·than that on the rentable side.· No more than two

21· ·contiguous floors.· So we don’t want to see a

22· ·building that comes in with three or four floors.

23· ·It’s one floor or two floors, two floors being the

24· ·max.· The site that you propose has to be large

25· ·enough to accommodate the 600 parking spaces that the

·1· ·VA is asking for.· And so those 600 spaces are for

·2· ·the VAs sole purpose.· Sorry, this WiFi keeps popping

·3· ·up.

·4· ·We’ll get more into pricing as we go

·5· ·through the slide deck, but when you submit your

·6· ·pricing, you would have to see it both in the 15 and

·7· ·20 year firm term, and we’ll get more into the reason

·8· ·of why we want to see that.· This requirement, the

·9· ·VA, this is a fully serviced lease package.· So what

10· ·that means is, in your rent the operating expenses

11· ·are included.· So your utilities, your janitorial, 12· ·your taxes are all rolled up into the rent.· That’s

13· ·the number that we’re going to see.· In terms of TI

14· ·the TI, we’re not going to amortize it.· The TI is

15· ·only going to be a lump sum.· The exact number is 34

16· ·million.· Again, I wrote it down because I don’t want

17· ·to screw it up, 34,132, 580 so that’s the total TI

18· ·amount.· And again, it’s not amortized.· We’re going

19· ·to look for it in a lump sum.· Lease management date, 20· ·obviously, that’s going to be when the VA accepts the

21· ·space, and we expect from lease award to substantial

22· ·completion of the space of the build out, it’s going

23· ·to take approximately 32 months.· Don’t hold us to

24· ·that, but that’s what we’re looking at in terms of

25· ·the schedule.

·1· ·So this is, again, just very high level

·2· ·where we’re at and where we need to go to.· A major

·3· ·milestone for this procurement from the VA side

·4· ·issuing the RLP.· We issued that a few weeks back. A

·5· ·lot of work went into getting that RLP package

·6· ·together, a lot of design work, figuring out what the

·7· ·requirement, defining the requirement and what that

·8· ·means, and then getting out to SAM.GOV so the

·9· ·developers can start putting their packages together.

10· ·We’re here today at the prebid

11· ·conference.· The next big milestone is January 22, 12· ·2024 that’s when your offers are due.· No extensions

13· ·are going to be granted right now.· So that’s our

14· ·hard deadline, and obviously we want to get to this

15· ·next step to eventually get to award.· And a lot of

16· ·stuff will go in between the receipt of your initial

17· ·proposal to get into the finalist award.· A lot of

18· ·reviews, clarifications, and abstractness of the

19· ·offers that you guys submit.· So that’s big level of

20· ·where we’re at and where we’re looking to go.

21· ·So the next couple of slides, we want

22· ·to just dive into the RLP.· It’s our understanding

23· ·that as a developer, you’re going to go through and

24· ·you’re going to read just not the RLP, but the

25· ·entirety of the RLP package, meaning the R100, the

·1· ·L100, all the appendices that are associated with

·2· ·that in their entirety.· What we’re going to do is

·3· ·just kind of review some of the highlights out of the

·4· ·R100 from the RLP and talk through some of those

·5· ·points where we see people always ask for

·6· ·clarification on or things from the VA that we want

·7· ·to emphasize for the developers. The RLP, if you

·8· ·haven’t seen it, but the R100 itself is broken into

·9· ·five sections, okay.· So each section is distinct

10· ·from one another.· So Section One is basically

11· ·outlining to you what the requirement is from the VA

12· ·in terms of size, parking, type of facility, et

13· ·cetera.

14· ·The Second Section of RLP is telling

15· ·you what you need to be in compliance with for your

16· ·building or site to meet the requirement.· Section

17· ·Three of the RLP is very important for you, it tells

18· ·you how to submit your offer, when to submit your

19· ·offer, and what needs to be included in your offer

20· ·back to the VA.· So those instructions that are

21· ·listed in Section Three are very important.· Section

22· ·Four of the RLP is in there to tell you how we’re

23· ·going to look at your evolver and how we’re going to

24· ·evaluate it.· So it lays out in very details what

25· ·we’re looking for and how we’re going to evaluate it.

·1· ·Section Five is called a catch all, but

·2· ·it just has any kind of additional terms, ·3· ·clarifications that we want to hit that we want you

·4· ·to be aware of, that you’re going to be responsible

·5· ·for either answering or clarifying for us backing

·6· ·your response.· And so what Val is going to do is

·7· ·she’s going to start working through the First

·8· ·Section of Section One of the RLP and kind of hitting

·9· ·on some key points that we want to discuss.

10· ·MS. CARRENO:

11· ·Thanks, James.· I’m going to delve into

12· ·the next section or start with Section One, which is

13· ·the statement of requirements.· So as James

14· ·mentioned, a key takeaway from Section 1.02 is that

15· ·you do need to submit an offer for both a 15 year

16· ·firm term and a 20 year firm term, which means two

17· ·1364 forms completely filled out.· So that’s what

18· ·we’re really looking for there to be able to make the

19· ·determination of what the cost differential would be

20· ·to the government.

21· ·Next would be the delineated area.

22· ·That has not changed from the expressions of

23· ·interest.· It’s the same.· And buildings or

24· ·properties on a boundary street are deemed to be

25· ·within the delineated area.· Section 1.06 is a list

·1· ·of the RLP documents. Please ensure you’ve read

·2· ·through everything you’re aware of, all of the

·3· ·attachments.· Some key things to focus on is the

·4· ·program for design, the project room contents list, ·5· ·the room data matrix.· These are things that the VA

·6· ·and the AD team have been working diligently on and

·7· ·really want you to pay attention to as you’re

·8· ·starting to formulate your proposal.· Moving down is

·9· ·the Broker Commission agreement, if you would like

10· ·that it can be provided only upon request.· So please

11· ·reach out specifically to James if you would like to

12· ·request a copy of that Broker Commission Agreement.

13· ·And be sure to include any leaf amendments that may

14· ·be released.· And if there’s updated forms, updated

15· ·language, you need to look at the amendment, sign the

16· ·amendment and ensure you’re incorporating those

17· ·changes into your proposal.

18· ·Moving on to Section Two.· Properties

19· ·cannot be inside 100 year floodplain, so it’s

20· ·recommended and one easy way is just print out the

21· ·FEMA map, go on to the website, show where your

22· ·property is located within the delineated area within

23· ·a certain floodplain.· And that makes it easy for us

24· ·to check the box that you meet that requirement.

25· ·MR. CASSIDY:

·1· ·I’m going to add something on

·2· ·floodplains real quick.· So a couple of things on

·3· ·floodplains.· If a portion of your site is included

·4· ·in a floodplain, you can cut out that portion of your

·5· ·site as long as the remaining portion of your parcel

·6· ·of land is big enough to accommodate the building and

·7· ·the parking.· So just because a corner of your parcel

·8· ·of land is part of the 100 year floodplain doesn’t

·9· ·mean the whole parcel is ruined.· So there are

10· ·workarounds to that.· Just be very clear of how

11· ·you’re going to start to cut up your site if you have

12· ·to deal with 100 year floodplain.

13· ·MS. CARRENO:

14· ·So Section 2.07 is for accessibility

15· ·and it is required for you to verify in the lease

16· ·proposal that the building space and areas meet

17· ·accessibility requirements.· You may think, well, I’m

18· ·doing new construction; of course we’re going to meet

19· ·that.· But just put a statement in your proposal so

20· ·we can ensure that, yes, you’ve agreed to do that and

21· ·we can check the box that your proposal meets that

22· ·requirement. Fire life safety, I’ll again

23· ·verify in the lease proposal that the building will

24· ·meet fire life safety requirements.· You’re going to

25· ·fill out that form 12,000, right.· But also provide

·1· ·the building code, the written commitment to meet all

·2· ·the requirements.· So that’s also included in Section

·3· ·2.08, and we’re looking for that in addition to the

·4· ·Fire Life Safety Form 12,000.

·5· ·MS. WHITE:

·6· ·That right there should be in the

·7· ·lease. So that should not be in there because that’s

·8· ·actually an elite.· If they’re returning that 12,000

·9· ·form, that fire safety and life safety issues that’s

10· ·in the lease.· So that’s kind of like redundant;

11· ·right?

12· ·MS. CARRENO:

13· ·Right.· Okay.· Section 2.09 Energy

14· ·Independence and Security Act.· Ensure that you’re

15· ·going to meet the Energy Star label within 18 months

16· ·after occupancy.· So show how and when that will be

17· ·obtained.· One tool you can use is the Energy Star

18· ·Target finder tool and ensure to include your Green

19· ·Globes project checklist.

20· ·MR. CASSIDY:

21· ·Another thing just on the Green Globes, 22· ·if you have members of your team, of your staff that

23· ·have that certification and have had that past

24· ·experience, make sure you highlight that because when

25· ·we’re reading that narrative and we know that the

·1· ·team has that experience, it’s a very good decision.

·2· ·MS. CARRENO:

·3· ·So Section 2.11 is the Due Diligence

·4· ·and National Environmental Policy Act requirements.

·5· ·You will be required to submit a phase one

·6· ·environmental study which will need to be completed

·7· ·within 180 days of the initial RLT due date.· Partial

·8· ·submittals are considered unresponsive.· Section 3.06

·9· ·also requires a hydrology statement.· This is one of

10· ·the things that we see overlooked, so just wanted to

11· ·kind of point that out.· It is required if you have

12· ·5000 square feet of land area that’s going to be

13· ·disturbed, you must provide a statement from the

14· ·offer or that you will comply with maintenance and

15· ·restoration of the property hydrology.· National

16· ·Historic Preservation Act, historic preference will

17· ·be given.· So if you are claiming that, please ensure

18· ·that you’re going to the National Register of

19· ·Historic Places to determine if your property is a

20· ·historic property or if it’s within a historic

21· ·district or a nonhistoric developed or undeveloped

22· ·site within a historic district.· And you would be

23· ·required to submit a letter claiming that preference

24· ·or the National Register of Historic Places ID

25· ·number.

·1· ·And then Cultural Resources study.

·2· ·That report is also required to be updated with your

·3· ·proposal.

·4· ·MS. WHITE:

·5· ·And it should be complete.

·6· ·MS. CARRENO:

·7· ·Yes.

·8· ·MS. WHITE:

·9· ·As well as the --- should be completed.

10· ·If not complete, sign all responses and the CO will

11· ·exclude you from the competition because that is a

12· ·requirement from the VA.

13· ·MS. CARRENO:

14· ·Moving on to Section Three, how to

15· ·offer questions ---.

16· ·MS. WHITE:

17· ·Did you put in there OMB score, because

18· ·that’s very important.

19· ·MS. CARRENO:

20· ·Yes, that’s coming up on the next

21· ·slide. So how to offer, questions are due December

22· ·6th. Submit your offers via FedEx, UPS or hand

23· ·delivered. You need to provide two compact discs, one

24· ·for each volume.· You may not submit offers

25· ·electronically and no hard copies.

·1· ·Next, we’re going to just review

·2· ·briefly this proposal matrix.· So this is a great

·3· ·tool to use when you’re putting your proposal

·4· ·together to organize it in this manner.· So as we go

·5· ·through, we do the abstract and we’re reviewing your

·6· ·proposal, it makes it easy for us to follow to show

·7· ·that you’ve provided everything.· This is the

·8· ·checklist that we’re using to evaluate to ensure your

·9· ·proposal meets each of the criteria.· If you list

10· ·your page numbers and sections, that’s very helpful

11· ·for us to list that in the column.

12· ·So moving to some of the key things

13· ·that we’re seeing when we’re reviewing offers.· Your

14· ·project management plan includes the workload and

15· ·additional project information, your staffing plan, 16· ·your risk mitigation, and your project schedule.· And

17· ·one of the things that specific paragraph in RLP

18· ·section 4.04 states is to ensure you’re listing what

19· ·the workload is for the staff that you’re proposing

20· ·and what’s the anticipated workload.· So not only

21· ·what they’re working on now, but what you’re bidding

22· ·to be included so that can be part of your staffing

23· ·plan. This is fully serviced, so

24· ·please review the janitorial services compliance

25· ·information, interior and exterior maintenance and

·1· ·your emergency and routine service call to service

·2· ·disabled veteran owned small business set aside.· You

·3· ·do have to be VetBiz certified.

·4· ·Local zoning, so one thing about zoning

·5· ·compliance, please ensure that it is zoned

·6· ·appropriately for the VA use and if it’s not, we need

·7· ·to know the timing, how long that’s going to take, ·8· ·what’s the plan.· So be sure to include specifics

·9· ·around how you plan to obtain that zoning and the

10· ·timing for approval and how the things that are

11· ·necessary to obtain it.

12· ·MR. CASSIDY:

13· ·And I believe that it’s the timing up

14· ·into, you have to show how you get it prior to

15· ·construction start.

16· ·MS. CARRENO:

17· ·And then there’s an amenities map here.

18· ·So please show that you’re meeting the unique

19· ·requirements and the RLP requirements Section 1.05

20· ·proximity to public transportation, five miles of a

21· ·hospital or a standalone emergency room and fire

22· ·department.· And then proof of signing authority and

23· ·evidence of ownership and control of the site.· So

24· ·please make sure that you have evidence that you’re

25· ·controlling the site that you’re submitting on, an

·1· ·option sales contract deed or a lease longer than the

·2· ·term is required, and also provide a title report

·3· ·that’s no fewer than 60 days prior to the initial

·4· ·offer due date.· And then for proof of signing

·5· ·authority, your corporation, a partnership LLC or JB

·6· ·agreement to show who specifically within that

·7· ·organization has authority to sign.

·8· ·MR. CASSIDY:

·9· ·Just real quick, on the signing

10· ·authority, whoever is the authorized signatory for

11· ·the entity, they should be signing all the documents.

12· · Anywhere we need a signature on any of these forms, 13· ·it should be that person signing and it should be

14· ·that person initialing on the every page of your

15· ·response should be initial or documents that were

16· ·requested back should be initialed.· And it should be

17· ·from the authorized signee.

18· ·MS. CARRENO:

19· ·Anything else you wanted to add on the

20· ·matrix before we move on to ---?

21· ·MR. CASSIDY:

22· ·I would just say that’s your roadmap of

23· ·how to respond back to us and as soon as we get that

24· ·back, as --- that’s the first place we look to kind

25· ·of put everything in order.· So the more detail and

·1· ·the more thorough you are on that offer compliance

·2· ·matrix, it’s an easier way for us to kind of dig

·3· ·through the offer and find the information that you

·4· ·worked very hard preparing and putting together.· So

·5· ·the more detail you can put into it, more helpful it

·6· ·is for us.

·7· ·MS. CARRENO:

·8· ·Section 3.04 Operating Lease, the

·9· ·government cannot award to a lease if it does not

10· ·score as an operating lease and cannot score --- it

11· ·cannot score as a capital lease.· So that’s a key

12· ·component to keep in mind.· Additional Submittal, the

13· ·--- must submit written evidence that they are

14· ·authorized --- now ready, gives you some the

15· ·following execute documents and then the Green Globes

16· ·for new construction.· Here’s the Tenant Improvement

17· ·lump sum amount.· It’s not amortized and then it is

18· ·fully serviced.· So ensure you’re including fully

19· ·serviced operating costs in your proposal.

20· ·Now I’m going to hand it back to

21· ·James to talk about the remaining section.

22· ·MR. CASSIDY:

23· ·Yeah, just on the operating cost and

24· ·the --- if they’re adjusted, if they’re not firm, 25· ·then you have to annotate on a --- they’re going to

·1· ·get adjusted with CPI during the course of the term

·2· ·of the lease.· So Section Four, again, like I said, ·3· ·this is how we evaluate your offers and what we’re

·4· ·looking for.· This is not lowest price technically

·5· ·acceptable. This is best value trade off.· So what

·6· ·that means is that we’ll evaluate both the pricing

·7· ·component by itself and then the technical factors by

·8· ·itself.· And if you look at it, all the technical

·9· ·factors, when combined, they equal the importance of

10· ·price.· But if the technical factors become equal in

11· ·merit as everything becomes one building compared to

12· ·one building pretty well, then price refunds

13· ·comparatively more important during our evaluation.

14· ·So for the technical factors, there’s

15· ·four of them.· So the first, Factor One, is technical

16· ·quality, this is how we’re looking at.· How are you

17· ·taking our program for design and building us an

18· ·outpatient clinic.· So this is what your --- is in

19· ·there, the quality of the site, where it’s located, 20· ·what kind of ingress and egress it has, how can I

21· ·accommodate parking, the energy efficiency that

22· ·you’re going to put into the building, are you

23· ·meeting the goals, the Green Globes, standards that

24· ·we’re putting out there.· That’s what we’re looking

25· ·for in Factor One.

·1· ·In Factor Two, we’re going to look to

·2· ·make sure that the past performance of your firm is

·3· ·up to the task of completing an 85,000 square foot

·4· ·outpatient clinic.· And then we’re also going to look

·5· ·at the teaming arrangements that you have in place in

·6· ·terms of your general contractor, the AE firm that

·7· ·you’re going to be working with, do you already have

·8· ·agreements in place to be working with them.· What’s

·9· ·their past experience, what does their team look

10· ·like, do they have the financial means to complete a

11· ·project of this size and scope.· So those are the

12· ·kind of things that we’re going to be looking for in

13· ·Factor Two.

14· ·In Factor Three, we’re going to be

15· ·evaluating how you tell us how you’re going to

16· ·maintain the facility over a 20 year term.· What are

17· ·you doing to make sure it’s staffed correctly, that

18· ·the property is maintained, that the facility is

19· ·maintained so it can withstand the wear and tear of

20· ·people being in and out of it every day for 20 years

21· ·to make sure it holds the standard that we need to be

22· ·able to operate in.

23· ·And Factor Four, this is the

24· ·socioeconomic status.· So obviously, they’re --- this

25· ·is an --- set of type.· So we’re only rating --- and

·1· ·Cynthia, correct me for --- it’s a neutral gradient.

·2· · The neutral gradient, right for --- in Factor Four?

·3· ·MS. WHITE:

·4· ·No, if they have past performance.

·5· ·MR. CASSIDY:

·6· ·So it’s an --- set aside.· So in Factor

·7· ·Four, since only SVUSB can submit, it’s a neutral

·8· ·rating?

·9· ·MS. WHITE:

10· ·No, if they have past performance, they

11· ·get a rating if they have past performance.· If they

12· ·submit past performance, then we evaluate if they do

13· ·not have past performance ---

14· ·MR. CASSIDY:

15· ·Got it.

16· ·MS. WHITE:

17· ·--- then it’s neutral rating.

18· ·MR. CASSIDY:

19· ·Then it’s neutral.· Okay.· Thank you

20· ·for clarifying.· So those are the four technical

21· ·factors that we’re going to be looking at in

22· ·evaluating when we receive your offers.· A couple

23· ·other things on Section Five of the RLP.· Again, like

24· ·we said, this is kind of the catch all we add to

25· ·stuff in here.· 5.02, any offsite improvements.· So

·1· ·what that means is if you need to make a new cutout

·2· ·in the road to form a road going into your facility, ·3· ·that cost is going to be borne by the leaser, and

·4· ·you’re going to be responsible for picking that up.

·5· ·There are a couple of other examples listed in

·6· ·section 5.02 of the RLP that would be other costs

·7· ·that you potentially have to pick up as yourself.

·8· ·Section 5.03, this is the due diligence.· It’s just -

·9· ·-- when you submit something, you’re telling us that

10· ·you have conducted the proper conduct and right due

11· ·diligence on the site to make sure it meets all

12· ·applicable local municipalities, state rules and code

13· ·compliance and whatnot.· In section 5.06, again, I

14· ·think I just mentioned this earlier, but from Factor

15· ·One of how we evaluate the teaming arrangements.· We

16· ·want to see that you have agreements in place with

17· ·your TCs and the AD firms that design --- that you’ll

18· ·be working with.· So that kind of wraps through the

19· ·Five Sections of the RLP. And now, Martha, I’ll turn

20· ·it over to you to talk through some of the tendencies

21· ·and the program.

22· ·MS. WEEKLY:

23· ·All right.· In the design level views, 24· ·all these Appendixes A through one through six, first

25· ·of all, is a --- for design, which is one of the most

·1· ·important documents because it defines the

·2· ·requirements.· The medical center has carefully

·3· ·validated this program to define exactly what’s going

·4· ·to meet their needs, meaning how much of this total

·5· ·square footage, how much is allocated per functional

·6· ·area, how many rooms, the attributes, and so forth.

·7· ·So that’s a very important thing to consider when you

·8· ·make the proposal.· The room contents list that will

·9· ·define all of the contents, specifically in each room

10· ·within the program for design.· So every room, 11· ·whether it’s an exam room, an office, every piece of

12· ·equipment has been defined for the content in the

13· ·PRC.· The lease design narrative, that is a very

14· ·important document, and it’s intended to consolidate

15· ·all the codes and standards, references and

16· ·guidelines in a single document.· And it will give

17· ·you performance based standards for the VA based

18· ·clinic.· And it’s just to consolidate all of that in

19· ·one place. So it’s really important to pay attention

20· ·to everything that’s from the LDM.· The room data

21· ·matrix that will give you the technical specific

22· ·details for each room, the HVAC requirements, the

23· ·architectural attributes, and so forth will be in

24· ·that room data matrix.· Transport systems need to

25· ·look in the VA till --- for the transport system

·1· ·specifications and then follow that.· This facility

·2· ·has been determined to have FSL Level Two security

·3· ·requirement.· Need to follow all the security

·4· ·requirements for a Level Two facility.

·5· ·The conceptual floor plan --- there we

·6· ·go.

·7· ·MS. CARRENO:

·8· ·Do you have it, Martha, so you can

·9· ·bring up ---?

10· ·MS. WEEKLY:

11· ·Yeah, it just wasn’t progressing.· The

12· ·floor plan is just a graphic representation of the

13· ·program for design.· Everything that’s in the program

14· ·is represented here.· These color codes represent

15· ·functional areas.· The T is over to the left, so

16· ·you’ll be able to see which functional area, whether

17· ·it’s in primary care or mental health, and look at

18· ·the spaces for that area.· But it aligns with the

19· ·program we’re designing, and that’ll give you the

20· ·requirement in referencing that.· These adjacencies

21· ·were developed intentionally.· The medical center has

22· ·had input into this layout, and so pay attention to

23· ·where these services are located because they have

24· ·chosen the adjacencies and locations intentionally in

25· ·how they operate.

·1· ·MR. CASSIDY:

·2· ·Yeah, we go back here.· Thanks, Martha.

·3· ·Any other comments on that program.· So just --- we

·4· ·only have a couple more slides and obviously it felt

·5· ·there’s a lot of information in there, so kind of we

·6· ·started with this, but go back and read the RLT in

·7· ·its entirety.· Everything that you need is in there, ·8· ·including all the appendices and whatnot.

·9· ·Formatting your response and how you

10· ·respond back to us following the instructions that

11· ·are outlined in Section 3.02 is very important.· So

12· ·if you’re trying to figure out how to put together

13· ·your response, follow the offer compliance matrix, 14· ·that’s a very good guide how to get your offer

15· ·submitted in a fashion that works best.· If you’re

16· ·not following the directions that are outlined in the

17· ·RLP, the response can be deemed nonresponsible.· So

18· ·if it’s not followed, if the instructions not follow, 19· ·it’s the discretion of LCO to deem it nonresponsible.

20· · We mentioned this a few months ago, but making sure

21· ·everything is signed where it needs to be signed by

22· ·the person that should be signing.· So the right

23· ·person signing that has the authority to sign.· For

24· ·your SAM.gov registration as the SVUSB entity or the

25· ·SVUSBJD entity, they have to be registered in SAM, it

·1· ·has to be current and has to be active, and they have

·2· ·to have the correct NIX code associated with the

·3· ·firm, 531120 should be in there.· 1364 it’s just not

·4· ·that form there’s also an Excel document that goes

·5· ·with that.· We ask that you also complete that as

·6· ·well for both the 15 and 20 year firm term scenarios

·7· ·that we’d like to see.· I’m just going here

·8· ·reiterating a couple of key points that we mentioned

·9· ·already.

10· ·The Phase One environmental study, it

11· ·needs to be completed.· Make sure all the documents

12· ·are signed.· Make sure that it’s been completed

13· ·within 180 days of submitting your offer.· The

14· ·Culture Research study, make sure that it is

15· ·initialed, signed and submitted with your offer, and

16· ·that is completed. One thing that I see going

17· ·through these is you want to make sure there’s no

18· ·discrepancies of how you’re outlining your

19· ·information.· So we shouldn’t read in one section

20· ·that in the narrative section, this is an example, 21· ·The BOA square footage that you’re offering is 83,000

22· ·square feet and then we get to a floor plan and we’re

23· ·looking at it, and the floor plan is annotated at

24· ·85,000 square feet.· There should be consistency

25· ·through every single document, whether it be in the

·1· ·technical and submittal and the narrative looking at

·2· ·the plan.· And then that number should also carry

·3· ·over into the pricing volume when we’re looking at

·4· ·the 1364 and 1217.· So consistency with the square

·5· ·footage, the parking that you’re offering, the

·6· ·offering entity should be very clear who it is on all

·7· ·the forms.· No conditional offers.· These offers are

·8· ·full and complete, and the deadline, January 22, ·9· ·2024, is when we need offers back from you all, and

10· ·there will be no extensions granted.

11· ·So we’ve been very thoughtful of how we

12· ·put that deadline into place from the time that RLP

13· ·was issued.· We pushed it out past the holidays and

14· ·we pushed it out even further past the holidays

15· ·because we know there’s other things going on.· When

16· ·you come back from the long break, it gives you a

17· ·week, two weeks to really finalize your response to

18· ·get it to us.· I think we’ve been very generous with

19· ·the time that we’ve allotted this, so we’re sticking

20· ·to that deadline, and that’s just kind of where we’re

21· ·at.

22· ·Key dates, RLP was issued November 9th.

23· ·We’re here at the Prebid today, November 28th.

24· ·December 6th, Cynthia mentioned earlier on this date, 25· ·any RFIs, any questions that you have, please submit

·1· ·them back to us in writing.· You can email them to

·2· ·Cynthia and myself, and then we’ll work on

·3· ·formulating and working with the VA team to get the

·4· ·correct responses back out to everybody.· And

·5· ·remember, the questions that you submit back to us

·6· ·and the answers that we provide back to you, go back

·7· ·to everybody they are posted on SAM.· So if it’s a

·8· ·question you don’t want everyone else to see, maybe

·9· ·you don’t ask it.· So think about that when you’re

10· ·putting together your appraisal.

11· ·And then I guess my last point is just

12· ·to hit it one last time, January 22nd, 2024, is when

13· ·your offers are due.· So with that Cynthia I’ll turn

14· ·it back over to you.

15· ·MS. WHITE:

16· ·Thank you, James.· And again, earlier I

17· ·said we would have a question and answer session.

18· ·Again, if you have a question, please make sure that

19· ·you speak clearly for the stenographer and also

20· ·please state your organization that you represent.

21· ·So at this time, do we have any questions?

22· ·DOCTOR BAPTISTE:

23· ·I have a comment.

24· ·COURT REPORTER:

25· ·Could you state your name, please, for

·1· ·the record?

·2· ·DOCTOR BAPTISTE:

·3· ·Doctor Katrina Baptiste, CSM, ORT.· One

·4· ·thing that was not mentioned is for future purposes, ·5· ·the apparent awardee, for the lease awardee, you must

·6· ·provide a file in the RVT format during the design so

·7· ·that is something new that we are requiring.· So

·8· ·please note that, that if you are the apparent

·9· ·awardee that we will require that you provide files

10· ·in the RVT format during the design phase to include

11· ·architectural and MEP drawing set.· That’s all I

12· ·have.

13· ·MS. WHITE:

14· ·Okay.· And finally, we’re going to have

15· ·just a quick remark from the medical center, Orlando.

16· ·MR. MIRARCHAI:

17· ·Thank you, Cynthia.· Well, I just like

18· ·to let everyone know that the VA Medical Center is

19· ·very excited about this project.· We have a great

20· ·team comprised of terrific professionals, and as

21· ·James mentioned, that timeline of January 22nd, 22· ·everyone’s been looking at that as a goal and our

23· ·veterans are very excited to have additional services

24· ·provided at this clinic.· So we really look forward

25· ·to your proposals and thank you very much.

·1· ·MS. WHITE:

·2· ·Thank you. Orlando.· Again, I want to

·3· ·say thank you for taking the time out of your day to

·4· ·come and attend this prebid conference.· If you have

·5· ·any questions, again, submit those questions.· Please

·6· ·note that the questions, the transcript of this

·7· ·meeting, the presentation will all be provided as an

·8· ·amendment in SAM.gov.· So again, thank you and please

·9· ·enjoy the rest of your day.

10· · · · · · · · · · · · * * * * * * * *

11· · · · · · · · MEETING CONCLUDED AT 10:42 A.M.

12· · · · · · · · · · · · * * * * * * * *

·1· · · · · · · · · · · · · CERTIFICATE

·2

·3· ·I hereby certify, as the stenographic reporter, ·4· ·that the foregoing proceedings were taken

·5· ·stenographically by me, and thereafter reduced to

·6· ·typewriting by me or under my direction; and that

·7· ·this transcript is a true and accurate record to the

·8· ·best of my ability.

·9· ·Dated the 14th day of December, 2023

13· ·Jessica Ashman