Bowling Green VA Pre-Bid Conference RLP 36C10F24R0039 Transcript.pdf

·1· · · · · ·U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

·2· · · · · · · ·VIRTUAL PRE-BID CONFERENCE

·3· · · · · · · · · ·RLP # 36C10F24R0039

·4· · · · COMMUNITY BASED OUTPATIENT CLINIC (CBOC)

·5· · · · · · · · · · BOWLING GREEN, KY

·6

·7

·8· · · · · · · · · · ·AUGUST 7, 2024

·9· · · · · · · · · 11:00 A.M. (via Zoom)

21· ·REPORTED BY:· Paula J. Eliopoulos

·1· ·VA PROJECT TEAM:

·2· ·Earnest Jackson, Lease Contracting Officer

·3· ·Jeff Leikin, Senior Realty Specialist/

·4· · · · · · · · Project Manager

·5· ·Derek Gray, Senior Resident Engineer

·6· ·Matt Shepardson, VA Planning Manager

·7

·8· ·MEDICAL CENTER/VISN REPRESENTATIVES:

·9· ·Joshua S. York, Strategic Capital Planning Officer

10· · · · · · · · · ·TVHS

11· ·Cara Garcia, TVHS Activation Manager

12· ·Jennifer Lye, VAMC Activation Manager

14· ·CONTRACTOR REPRESENTATIVES:

15· ·Brad Seifert REAG/PP

16· ·Ed Brennan· REAG/PP

17· ·Sam Dyson· REAG/PP

18· ·Richard Ficarelli, REAG

19· ·David Stonehouse, REAG

·1· · · · · · · · · · · PROCEEDINGS

·2· · · · · · · ·MR. SEIFERT:· I appreciate everybody

·3· ·joining us for the Bowling Green VA Virtual

·4· ·Prebid.· So we'll just get going on the slide

·5· ·show.

·6· · · · · · · ·So our agenda today.· We're going to

·7· ·kind of go over the RLP package.· We're going to

·8· ·talk about how to submit an offer.· We'll go over

·9· ·the lease document, talk about the appendices and

10· ·then review a few of the standard forms and the

11· ·documents that you'll be submitting as part of

12· ·your proposal.

13· · · · · · · ·At the end we'll talk about the

14· ·process for submitting questions, when we'll get

15· ·the answers back to everybody and what the next

16· ·steps are.

17· · · · · · · ·Before we get into everything, I want

18· ·to introduce the project team for this specific

19· ·procurement.· Earnest Jackson, some of you know by

20· ·EJ, will be lease contracting officer.

21· · · · · · · ·Jeff Leikin is the Senior Reality

·1· ·Specialist and he's working as the Project Manager

·2· ·for this procurement.

·3· · · · · · · ·Derek Gray is the Senior Resident

·4· ·Engineer for VA and Matt Shepardson has been

·5· ·involved with the planning and he'll be the VA

·6· ·Planner on this project.

·7· · · · · · · ·From the medical center we have Joshua

·8· ·York who is the Strategic Capital Planning Officer

·9· ·forth the Tennessee Valley Health Services area;

10· ·Cara Garcia who is the Activation Manager for

11· ·Tennessee Valley Health and Jennifer Lye who is

12· ·also an Activation Manager for the medical center.

13· · · · · · · ·And then on the brokerage side I'm

14· ·Brad Seifert with Public Properties, we're part of

15· ·Team REAG under this contract.

16· · · · · · · ·Ed Brennan who most of you guys have

17· ·been working with on this is working with us on

18· ·this project.

19· · · · · · · ·Sam Dyson also from Public Properties, 20· ·Rich Ficarelli from REAG and David Stonehouse from

21· ·REAG.

·1· · · · · · · ·So that's kind of the team on the

·2· ·brokerage side.

·3· · · · · · · ·As Ed mentioned, we do have a court

·4· ·reporter who will be transcribing this meeting.

·5· ·Any questions we do want submitted in writing.· So

·6· ·she's going to transcribe this, we will post that

·7· ·with the questions and answers.· That will come

·8· ·out, you know, probably a week or two after they

·9· ·are due.

10· · · · · · · ·So, again, we won't be answering any

11· ·questions on this call today.· Just to be fair to

12· ·everybody we'll get those in writing, we'll get

13· ·the subject matter expert to help put together an

14· ·answer and we'll get those back to everybody as

15· ·soon as possible.

16· · · · · · · ·The purpose of today's meeting is to

17· ·provide a general overview of the RLP, to kind of

18· ·communicate to the potential Offerors what the

19· ·requirements are and to help promote competition.

20· · · · · · · ·So a high level, this project is going

21· ·to be a community based outpatient clinic.· This

·1· ·is an SDVOSB Set-Aside so meaning that we're only

·2· ·going to be accepting proposals from verified

·3· ·service disabled veteran owned small businesses.

·4· ·We are looking for a fully serviced lease.· We'll

·5· ·get into that a little bit more in the slide show.

·6· · · · · · · ·The maximum ABOA square footage that

·7· ·is allowed under this procurement is 49,235 feet.

·8· · · · · · · ·The building must be on one contiguous

·9· ·floor and we're looking for 300 on-site parking

10· ·spaces.

11· · · · · · · ·So looking at the RLP package, there's

12· ·kind of a few different areas.· So the first part

13· ·we'll talk about is the RLP itself.· There's five

14· ·sections of the RLP, so we'll go through each of

15· ·those.· We'll then touch on a few areas of the

16· ·lease.· We'll get into the appendices and then the

17· ·standard forms.

18· · · · · · · ·So Section 1 of the RLP is called the

19· ·Statement of Requirement.· This kind of goes into

20· ·what the Government is looking for Offerors to

21· ·submit to them in terms of what they want to

·1· ·lease, starting with the term.

·2· · · · · · · ·So the lease term for this will be up

·3· ·to 20 years.· We are asking for folks to provide

·4· ·both a 15 year firm term and a 20 year firm term.

·5· ·It's the Government's intent to award a 20 year

·6· ·firm term but ask for both in case there are

·7· ·potential scoring issues with the 20 year term, we

·8· ·can move to a 15 year term.

·9· · · · · · · ·We don't foresee that being a problem.

10· ·That hasn't been a problem on a lot of these

11· ·projects, thankfully, so if we do get to, you

12· ·know, a competitive set or something like that we

13· ·may just ask for a 20.· But for the initial

14· ·proposals we need everybody to submit both a 15

15· ·and 20 year term.

16· · · · · · · ·The next section, Section 1.03 of the

17· ·RLP talks about the delineated area.· Obviously

18· ·anybody that's submitted properties during the

19· ·market survey portion of this is familiar with

20· ·this delineated area.

21· · · · · · · ·The properties have to fall within the

·1· ·area listed here, and on the next slide we have a

·2· ·map of this area.

·3· · · · · · · ·I will note that any properties

·4· ·fronting these boundaries would be considered

·5· ·within the delineated area.· So if you have a

·6· ·property that fronts one of the boundary roads, ·7· ·that would be a fine property to submit.

·8· · · · · · · ·I would also add that, you know, if

·9· ·you submitted a property during the market survey

10· ·phase and another property has come up and you

11· ·think it's better, absolutely you can submit a

12· ·property that wasn't submitted as part of the

13· ·market survey in response to the RLP.

14· · · · · · · ·Section 1.06 of the RLP lists all of

15· ·the documents that make up the RLP package.· So as

16· ·you'll see here there's 20 some odd documents that

17· ·make up the package.· Some of these are

18· ·informational, some of these are forms that need

19· ·to be completed and submitted back.· But this is

20· ·where you would find that complete list of

21· ·documents that have posted to SAM.

·1· · · · · · · ·Section 1.10 talks about the security

·2· ·requirements for the lease.· So the -- every

·3· ·Government lease falls within a different FSL

·4· ·level as determined by FPS.· This happens to be an

·5· ·FSL II project and so the security requirements

·6· ·attachment to the RLP package is for FSL II.· That

·7· ·will outline what the security requirements are.

·8· · · · · · · ·I'll note that there are some of those

·9· ·requirements that are shell items, they need to be

10· ·included in your shell costs.· And then there are

11· ·others that are tenant improvement items and that

12· ·those would be priced after award and part of the

13· ·TI allowance.

14· · · · · · · ·Moving on to Section 2.· This is

15· ·eligibility and preferences for award.· This

16· ·includes what I like to call a go, no go items.

17· ·Things that, you know, a property has to meet or

18· ·an offer has to meet to be considered.

19· · · · · · · ·The first is that we need to have an

20· ·offered space that's in an efficient layout.· And

21· ·so as part of the submission, Offerors will be

·1· ·providing a floor plan based on the conceptual

·2· ·plan that was included in the RLP package.

·3· · · · · · · ·We'll look at that to make sure that

·4· ·the layout is efficient.· Given the likelihood of

·5· ·these all being build to suit projects, we would

·6· ·hope that the layout would be efficient for all of

·7· ·these.

·8· · · · · · · ·2.02 talks about the floodplain, the

·9· ·FEMA floodplain.· We cannot accept a property that

10· ·falls within the 100-year floodplain which they

11· ·now say is a property that has a one percent

12· ·annual chance of flooding.· It means the same

13· ·thing.

14· · · · · · · ·But we cannot have a property that

15· ·falls within that area.

16· · · · · · · ·And then it must -- the proposals must

17· ·meet fire and life safety as well as accessibility

18· ·requirements.· That's both Federal requirements

19· ·and then Local jurisdictional requirements.

20· · · · · · · ·We need to have a Phase I

21· ·environmental site assessment submitted with the

·1· ·initial proposal.· And that document has to be

·2· ·recent, within the last 180 days.· Hopefully it

·3· ·doesn't have any recognized environmental

·4· ·conditions as part of the property, but if it does

·5· ·indicate that there are RECs then there may be

·6· ·some followup needed on a property by property

·7· ·basis.

·8· · · · · · · ·We also are going to need a Cultural

·9· ·Resources Report provided as part of the proposal, 10· ·this is outlined in 2.13.· This will also need to

11· ·be recent, within 180 days.· And this will allow

12· ·us to perform the NHPA study that needs to be

13· ·completed for this project.· So the Cultural

14· ·Resources Report is kind of a first step that

15· ·gives us information to move forward and complete

16· ·the NHPA internally that the Government needs to

17· ·have done.

18· · · · · · · ·Section 3 talks about how to offer.

19· ·So this is kind of how we want you guys to submit

20· ·your proposal back to us starting with, you know, 21· ·when certain things are due.

·1· · · · · · · ·So as Ed mentioned at the beginning of

·2· ·the call, the questions are due by August 16th.

·3· ·We encourage you to submit the questions as soon

·4· ·as you can, so don't wait until August 16th.· We

·5· ·are going to be working in realtime getting

·6· ·answers to those with a goal of turning the

·7· ·answers around as quickly as possible so you have

·8· ·information to be able to work on your proposal.

·9· ·You know, we want to give you three or four weeks

10· ·to be able to do that.

11· · · · · · · ·So, again, if you can get us the

12· ·questions sooner we'll be answering those.· And

13· ·that will allow us to get the complete set of

14· ·questions with answers out to everybody as soon

15· ·after August 16th as possible.

16· · · · · · · ·The initial proposals are due

17· ·September 20th, by 4:00 p.m. Eastern time, and

18· ·those must be submitted via e-mail.· Due to the

19· ·size of the submissions they can't be attached as

20· ·an attachment so submitted through a Share Point

21· ·or any -- Drop Box or any other kind of file

·1· ·sharing method that you guys can send an e-mail

·2· ·and attach a link to.

·3· · · · · · · ·Also in Section 3 is the Offeror

·4· ·Proposal Compliance Matrix.· This goes into detail

·5· ·on exactly what is supposed to be submitted.· This

·6· ·is kind of a great kind of cheat sheet table of

·7· ·contents type of area of the RLP that you can look

·8· ·at and see exactly what needs to be submitted to

·9· ·address each section of the RLP or lease or

10· ·appendices.

11· · · · · · · ·There's a lot of things that we're

12· ·looking to have submitted so I definitely

13· ·encourage folks to use this as kind of a guide to

14· ·make sure that you've submitted everything that's

15· ·required.

16· · · · · · · ·And then the last part of it talks

17· ·about the pricing, so the pricing and the

18· ·technical being separate.· We'll get into that in

19· ·just a second.

20· · · · · · · ·Under 3.06, Additional Submittals.

21· ·There is a laundry list of items that are required

·1· ·under this section.· We've just picked a few to

·2· ·touch on.· One being the ownership or control of

·3· ·the property.

·4· · · · · · · ·So we need to see that the Offeror has

·5· ·control of the property.· This can be through an

·6· ·option to purchase contract, a sales contract, a

·7· ·deed for the property, a long term lease for the

·8· ·property that has a duration longer than the time

·9· ·frame of the development and then the 20 year

10· ·lease that the Government is looking for.· Or an

11· ·option to lease that outlines those terms.

12· · · · · · · ·Important to note that the entity

13· ·that's on that contract must match the entity

14· ·that's offering.· So the SDVOSB entity that is

15· ·offering on this submission has to also be the

16· ·entity that has control of the property.

17· · · · · · · ·And this just kind of gives you a

18· ·little bit more information on exactly what we

19· ·would be allowing as evidence of control of the

20· ·property.

21· · · · · · · ·Another item to point out here under

·1· ·additional submittals is the Green Globes.· So

·2· ·this project for buildings that are being proposed

·3· ·for new construction we'd be looking for two Green

·4· ·Globes for new construction as a minimum that

·5· ·folks would need to meet.

·6· · · · · · · ·The next, 3.07 talks about the tenant

·7· ·improvement allowance and it also goes into the

·8· ·detail on what the tenant improvements are.· In

·9· ·the lease, Section 5 talks about what the tenant

10· ·improvement items are.· The lease design narrative

11· ·also goes into detail on what some of the TIs are.

12· · · · · · · ·We've included in this section an

13· ·estimate of what we believe based on a Government

14· ·IGE the total TI cost would be.· That's really

15· ·informational to provide you and your financing

16· ·folks a ballpark of what on the TI side this

17· ·project is going to cost.

18· · · · · · · ·And I think that's important as we get

19· ·into the technical evaluation factors and start

20· ·talking about financing.· You know, we'll be

21· ·looking to see that the costs of the TI is

·1· ·included in the financing plan.

·2· · · · · · · ·That's not going to end up being the

·3· ·exact number.· Again, it's just an estimate and

·4· ·it's there for informational purposes.· The final

·5· ·TI number will be based on the notice to proceed

·6· ·after the construction drawings are finished.

·7· · · · · · · ·Next is Operating Costs, Section 3.11.

·8· ·Again this is a fully serviced lease over the full

·9· ·20 year term.· So we'll be looking for developers

10· ·and eventual owners of the building to be

11· ·providing as part of their lease cost all

12· ·utilities, janitorial services, maintenance of the

13· ·property, upkeep of the property over that 20 year

14· ·period.

15· · · · · · · ·Next up is Section 4 which is Method

16· ·of Award.· So this goes into detail of how the

17· ·Government is going to evaluate proposals.

18· · · · · · · ·And in this case this procurement is

19· ·being run as a best value procurement meaning that

20· ·price is essentially worth half of the evaluation, 21· ·technical is worth the other half of the

·1· ·evaluation.

·2· · · · · · · ·And going back to Section 3, when you

·3· ·submit your proposals you'll be submitting a

·4· ·technical volume and a price volume.· And the

·5· ·reason for that, doing that is that the folks

·6· ·looking at the technical volume will not have any

·7· ·understanding of what's going on with the price.

·8· ·They're strictly looking at the technical

·9· ·proposals and looking at the factors that we've

10· ·put into the RLP.· And these factors match the

11· ·source selection plan that's been developed for

12· ·this specific procurement.

13· · · · · · · ·We have four different evaluation

14· ·factors that we're looking at and within each

15· ·factor we have areas of consideration.

16· · · · · · · ·So for Factor 1 which is technical

17· ·quality, we'll be looking at -- and I will also

18· ·mention that these are in descending order of

19· ·importance.· So Factor 1 is more important than

20· ·Factor 2, which is more important than Factor 3

21· ·and so on.

·1· · · · · · · ·So within Factor 1 we're looking at

·2· ·three parts.· We're looking at architectural

·3· ·concept and building design.· This is the

·4· ·aesthetics of the building, what kind of materials

·5· ·are being used, what's their durability.· Does

·6· ·this project the image that VA wants, which is of

·7· ·a Class A medical facility.

·8· · · · · · · ·Does it include natural light?· Does

·9· ·it fit into the Bowling Green marketplace?· These

10· ·are all things that we're looking at under Factor

11· ·A.

12· · · · · · · ·Additionally we're looking at the

13· ·floor plan.· So how did the Offeror and their

14· ·architect team take our conceptual plan and put

15· ·this into their building.· Are the adjacencies

16· ·similar?· Are the room sizes right?· Are all of

17· ·the rooms there?· Is there a front of house, back

18· ·of house separation that's required by the PACT

19· ·model?

20· · · · · · · ·So these are things that will be

21· ·considered under Factor A -- or area of

·1· ·consideration A.

·2· · · · · · · ·Area of consideration B is quality of

·3· ·site characteristics and development.· So that's

·4· ·looking at both on-site development and then what

·5· ·are the characteristics of the property.

·6· · · · · · · ·So on-site we're looking at parking, ·7· ·we're looking at site circulation, loading docks, ·8· ·how are those accessed.· Any gardens, any kind of

·9· ·sitting areas, things like that.

10· · · · · · · ·Off-site we're looking at amenities, 11· ·public transportation, those type of items.

12· · · · · · · ·We're also looking at kind of ease of

13· ·access to and from the property, so kind of

14· ·connectivity of roads, highways, let's see what

15· ·else on the off-site -- but those are the main

16· ·things, public transportation, amenities, site

17· ·access, things like that.

18· · · · · · · ·And then under sustainable design and

19· ·energy efficiency, that is pretty straightforward

20· ·in terms of what the RLP consideration is.· This

21· ·is how you're meeting the Green Globes energy

·1· ·star, natural light into the building.· These are

·2· ·all things that are being considered under

·3· ·sustainable design and energy efficiency.

·4· · · · · · · ·There are minimal requirements

·5· ·throughout the lease as it pertains to sustainable

·6· ·design energy efficiency.· So that's kind of the

·7· ·baseline and then we're looking at how folks go

·8· ·above and beyond that.

·9· · · · · · · ·Next up is Factor 2, Offeror's

10· ·Qualifications and Past Performance.· So there's

11· ·four areas of consideration under Factor 2.· The

12· ·first is the Offeror's past performance.· So this

13· ·specifically is looking at the past performance

14· ·questionnaires that were included as part of the

15· ·RLP package.· Those are going to be completed by

16· ·whoever you decide to send them to and sent

17· ·directly to our team as well as the contracting

18· ·officer and project manager from VA.

19· · · · · · · ·And we'll be looking at how did the

20· ·person who filled out questionnaire evaluate the

21· ·Offeror.

·1· · · · · · · ·And that is just the offering entity.

·2· ·We're not looking under that one at the GC or the

·3· ·AE or anything like that.· That is the developer, ·4· ·Offeror.

·5· · · · · · · ·Factor B -- or I'm sorry, area of

·6· ·consideration B, we're looking at the design team

·7· ·and then we're looking at the general contractor

·8· ·qualifications.· So here we're looking at the team

·9· ·itself, the experience level of the team members, 10· ·the experience of the company.· But kind of more

11· ·importantly who specifically is going to be

12· ·working on this project.

13· · · · · · · ·Have they worked on projects of

14· ·similar size?· Have they worked on projects of

15· ·similar scope?· Have they worked on other VA

16· ·projects?· That's kind of what we're looking at

17· ·under Factor B.

18· · · · · · · ·Area of consideration C, we're looking

19· ·at the financial resources.· So as I mentioned

20· ·before, you know, this is an important part.

21· ·We're looking at how this building is going to be

·1· ·financed both the shell and the TI.

·2· · · · · · · ·You know, in this marketplace this is

·3· ·more and more important to make sure that these

·4· ·projects once they're awarded can get finished.

·5· ·Specifically under the financial resources plan

·6· ·we're looking at two debt sources as well as two

·7· ·equity sources; so a primary solution for the debt

·8· ·and equity and then a secondary solution for the

·9· ·debt and equity.

10· · · · · · · ·We're looking for backup information

11· ·to support those.· So whether it's balance sheets, 12· ·bank letters, everything that's kind of in that

13· ·plan needs to be supported by backup information.

14· · · · · · · ·The next area of consideration under

15· ·Factor 2 is the Project Management Plan.· So the

16· ·Project Management Plan is really looking at from

17· ·lease award to commencement what is the plan to

18· ·get through design, construction and activation, 19· ·you know, looking at quality control, looking at

20· ·communication plans, looking at a plan to kind

21· ·of -- permitting in this area takes a long time.

·1· ·Here's how we're going to mitigate risks.

·2· · · · · · · ·You know, mitigating risks in terms of

·3· ·construction with long lead items, all of that

·4· ·kind of falls under the Project Management Plan.

·5· · · · · · · ·Factor 3 is looking at the Operations

·6· ·and Maintenance of the Building.· So this is after

·7· ·the building has been delivered and the developer

·8· ·is now operating the building, that part of the

·9· ·entire contract falls under Factor 3.

10· · · · · · · ·So this would be the interior and

11· ·exterior maintenance plan for both the building

12· ·and the grounds.· You know, what maintenance is

13· ·being done, how often is it being done, who's

14· ·doing it?· Those are things that we'll look at

15· ·under that area of consideration.

16· · · · · · · ·Area of consideration B, routine and

17· ·emergency calls and procedures.· So this is if

18· ·there's a problem with the building, what's

19· ·protocol?· Does a doctor or a nurse or other kind

20· ·of practitioner call the building manager and then

21· ·what happens.· And these would be different plans

·1· ·for if it was an emergency and something needed to

·2· ·be addressed immediately versus if it was

·3· ·something that was more routine.· So this looks at

·4· ·chain of communication and, you know, response

·5· ·times and just kind of the feasibility of the

·6· ·overall plan.

·7· · · · · · · ·And in area of consideration C we're

·8· ·looking at staffing plan, administrative

·9· ·procedures and quality control.

10· · · · · · · ·Staffing plan is pretty

11· ·straightforward.· You know, are you going to have

12· ·somebody on-site during operating hours?· Is it

13· ·more kind of a roving thing?· What's the staffing

14· ·for the janitorial services?· What's the staffing

15· ·for the general maintenance of the building?

16· · · · · · · ·And then quality control, looking at

17· ·kind of what methods and plans are in place to

18· ·make sure that there is quality control and backup

19· ·for operation and maintenance of the building.

20· · · · · · · ·And then Factor 4 is the

21· ·socio-economic status.· So this one essentially

·1· ·will being a neutral rating.· Because this is a

·2· ·SDVOSB set aside, every Offeror has to be an

·3· ·SDVOSB.· So there will be no benefit for this

·4· ·factor where one group can do better than another

·5· ·group.

·6· · · · · · · ·Everybody for this factor will be on

·7· ·an even playing field.

·8· · · · · · · ·Section 4.05 talks about how we

·9· ·evaluate price.· So like I said at the beginning, 10· ·technical is worthy essentially half; price is

11· ·worth the other half.· And for the price component

12· ·what we do is we take the rental stream which will

13· ·differ Offeror to Offeror how that is set up and

14· ·we'll bring that down to a present value number on

15· ·a per ABOA square foot basis.

16· · · · · · · ·And 4.05 talks about the methodology

17· ·behind that calculation and how we get there.

18· · · · · · · ·Section 5 is additional terms and

19· ·conditions.· So these are things that are kind of

20· ·unique to VA's RLP so we wanted to point out a few

21· ·of these.· One is, 5.02 talks about off-site

·1· ·improvements.· So anything that the jurisdiction

·2· ·is requiring, whether it be putting in a traffic

·3· ·light or building a sidewalk or extending a road, ·4· ·all of those costs are the developer's costs and

·5· ·they need to be considered and built into the

·6· ·shell rental rate.

·7· · · · · · · ·VA will not be paying for any of those

·8· ·off-site improvements down the road if the

·9· ·developer comes and says, hey, you know, when we

10· ·got this award we had no idea that we were going

11· ·to have to put this traffic signal in, you know, 12· ·100 yards down the road but the jurisdiction is

13· ·making us.· That risk is on the developer and that

14· ·needs to be considered and built in as part of the

15· ·proposal.

16· · · · · · · ·Similarly on-site, below the site if

17· ·you run into rock while you're starting to

18· ·excavate or there's something that's kind of

19· ·unforeseen in site development, again that's the

20· ·responsibility of the Offeror.· That's not

21· ·something that the VA is going to be paying for

·1· ·outside of the rent.

·2· · · · · · · ·So it is incumbent on the developers

·3· ·to really understand their site and then

·4· ·understand the jurisdiction and what the

·5· ·requirements are going to be for their site to be

·6· ·developed.

·7· · · · · · · ·5.06 talks about teaming agreements.

·8· ·Because the architect and the general contractor

·9· ·are such important parts of the total team that's

10· ·being proposed for the project and because we're

11· ·evaluating both of those entities, we want to make

12· ·sure that there's a formalized teaming agreement

13· ·between the Offeror and then the GC and the

14· ·Offeror and the design team.

15· · · · · · · ·And we request letters kind of stating

16· ·such, that there is an agreement in place to move

17· ·forward on this project.

18· · · · · · · ·So, again, in summary we kind of

19· ·talked through all five sections of the RLP.

20· · · · · · · ·And we'll move on to the lease which

21· ·has a total of seven sections.· Section 1, which

·1· ·is the premises and the rent.· This section is the

·2· ·one that gets kind of manipulated the most while

·3· ·we're creating the lease document.

·4· · · · · · · ·We're taking information from the

·5· ·presumed successful Offeror and we're going to put

·6· ·that into Section 1 and that will cover the term

·7· ·of the lease and the rent, the operating expenses, ·8· ·percentage of occupancy, a bunch of different

·9· ·things in Section 1 that needs to be filled in.

10· ·And that will be offer specific.

11· · · · · · · ·The rest of the sections, Sections 2

12· ·through 7 are pretty much standard language and

13· ·there's not a ton that gets changed in those, you

14· ·know, from the document that's a part of the RLP

15· ·package.

16· · · · · · · ·A few things to point out that's

17· ·different from the general GSA lease that folks

18· ·might be familiar with.· And the most important

19· ·one being in Section 3, 3.40.· The standard kind

20· ·of GSA language takes the HVAC system and it

21· ·breaks part of it into shell and part of it into

·1· ·the TI.· In this case, this lease requires all

·2· ·HVAC costs to be shell.· So there will be no HVAC

·3· ·costs at all that will be part of the tenant

·4· ·improvement allowance.

·5· · · · · · · ·So that's one, for folks that haven't

·6· ·bid on these VA projects prior, we wanted to point

·7· ·out because it is different and, you know, it's a

·8· ·substantial kind of cost shift from TI to shell.

·9· · · · · · · ·This just talks about the design

10· ·overview and the design concept.· So what you

11· ·submit with proposal, that's what we're going to

12· ·hold you to.· So the building itself, the building

13· ·design, the building materiality, this will all be

14· ·incorporated into the lease, you know, through

15· ·plans and references to the proposal.

16· · · · · · · ·So I just want to point out that, you

17· ·know, whatever you propose make sure that you've

18· ·covered the costs because that's what we're going

19· ·to hold the developer to.

20· · · · · · · ·And then the other things to think

21· ·about, and this factors into the lease is, you

·1· ·know, what building standards and design standards

·2· ·you guys need to meet.· And there's a bunch of

·3· ·different ones.· The RLP package, that kind of

·4· ·goes away but some of the attachments, the LDN and

·5· ·the PFD, those will be part of it.· There's

·6· ·Federal regulations, there's FGI, there's local

·7· ·building codes and standards.· You have to meet

·8· ·the Green Globes, accessibility.· And then making

·9· ·sure that your costs include Davis-Bacon wages.

10· · · · · · · ·So part of the RLP package are a

11· ·handful of appendices, and I'm going to touch on

12· ·just a couple of these appendices today.

13· · · · · · · ·Appendix A is the Program for Design.

14· ·So this is a breakdown of each space within the

15· ·facility.

16· · · · · · · ·So as you can see here it takes each

17· ·room and it will outline exactly what the room is.

18· ·So let's just say it's a storage room and it's

19· ·within the audiology area of the building and

20· ·there's two of them.· And so you list that square

21· ·footage for each, maybe 100 square feet, total 200

·1· ·square feet.

·2· · · · · · · ·And so this document lists every

·3· ·single room within the building giving you a

·4· ·quantity and a size and that's ultimately how we

·5· ·come up with the square footage required for this

·6· ·project.

·7· · · · · · · ·The next is the Project Room Content

·8· ·List.· So these appendices kind of build on each

·9· ·other.· The Project Room Content List lists the

10· ·room again, but then it goes into more detail and

11· ·it tells you exactly what is going to be in the

12· ·room.

13· · · · · · · ·And then if it's going to be something

14· ·that the vendor -- or I'm sorry, the contractor is

15· ·going to be providing and installing or the VA is

16· ·going to be providing and installing.

17· · · · · · · ·So you can see here within this

18· ·audiology booth there's going to be chairs, 19· ·there's going to be computers, there's going to be

20· ·dispensers, there's going to be a hook, stools.

21· ·So it kind of gives you a list of everything.

·1· · · · · · · ·And then it will tell you how many and

·2· ·who's going to be providing what.

·3· · · · · · · ·These come really into play in

·4· ·planning but then also post award as we get into

·5· ·more of a detailed design of the space.

·6· · · · · · · ·Appendix 2 talks about -- it's the

·7· ·Lease Design Narrative.· This has become a fairly

·8· ·standard document and it goes into detail, kind of

·9· ·consolidating codes, standards and references, 10· ·building off kind of the RLP -- I'm sorry, the

11· ·lease with the shell section and the TI section

12· ·and just giving more detail on what's going to be

13· ·happening in this specific building.· Kind of

14· ·agency specific requirements.

15· · · · · · · ·And then Appendix 3 kind of goes back

16· ·to the PFD and the room contents list and

17· ·continuing to kind of build on that.· The

18· ·difference being here on the room data matrix is

19· ·that it's taking each room and then breaking down

20· ·what the room is going to be constructed of.

21· · · · · · · ·So you'd see like interior

·1· ·construction, it will give you an STC rating for

·2· ·the room, it will give you a ceiling height for

·3· ·the room.· It will give you what the finishes are, ·4· ·so what the doors would be, the paint would be.

·5· ·If there's Wainscoting, what that would be.· So

·6· ·that has a breakdown room by room so when you are

·7· ·in the post award phase and you're pricing this

·8· ·information you would be able to have one spot you

·9· ·can go to with your contractor and gather all of

10· ·it together.

11· · · · · · · ·Section 4 -- or I'm sorry, Appendix 4

12· ·is VA Transport System Specs.· So this is more of

13· ·an IT type of document to make sure that the IT

14· ·meets all of the requirements of VA's Office of

15· ·Information and Technology.

16· · · · · · · ·This is the FSL II document that I

17· ·talked about briefly previously.· So these will be

18· ·the security requirements.· Again some of these

19· ·items are shell requirements and then others would

20· ·fall under the tenant improvement allowance.· So

21· ·this is an important document to look at, one, ·1· ·when you're designing the building to make sure

·2· ·that the design meets the security requirements

·3· ·outlined in here.

·4· · · · · · · ·And then once we get into the pricing

·5· ·phase after award this becomes an important factor

·6· ·as well.

·7· · · · · · · ·The next is the conceptual layout

·8· ·which is kind of a standard single story packed

·9· ·layout.· And I think that Derek was going to talk

10· ·about this a little bit.· Derek, do you want to

11· ·touch on it?

12· · · · · · · ·MR. GRAY:· Derek Gray here.· Let me

13· ·start off with an apology.· I've got mowers right

14· ·outside my office windows right now so if there's

15· ·some background noise, please forgive.· I'll try

16· ·to speak up, though.

17· · · · · · · ·Derek Gray,· I work at the Office of

18· ·Construction Facilities Management in the Lease

19· ·Delivery Division and will be assigned

20· ·particularly to this project as indicated in the

21· ·introductory slides.

·1· · · · · · · ·So Appendix A.6, the Conceptual Floor

·2· ·plan.· One thing to note here, this was developed

·3· ·by CFM and LDD, lease delivery.· This is not a

·4· ·design and intended to be a design but it is a

·5· ·block diagram for the purposes which was stated

·6· ·earlier outlining what VA has identified as the

·7· ·desired departmental adjacencies, the flow of

·8· ·operations across the building.

·9· · · · · · · ·As mentioned earlier, the separation

10· ·between front of house, back of house and how all

11· ·the different areas of consideration need to be

12· ·both captured within the ultimate layout of the

13· ·facility but also how those adjacencies are so

14· ·important to the functional operations of day to

15· ·day operations of the clinic.

16· · · · · · · ·And so play close attention to this, 17· ·particularly those adjacencies, the separations

18· ·between areas, the front of house, back of house

19· ·operations.· But if there are ways to find

20· ·efficiencies in your design, in your anticipated

21· ·design model throughout the course of your

·1· ·proposal package, please include that, annotate

·2· ·how that does so.

·3· · · · · · · ·Pay specific attention to the PACT

·4· ·models that are represented here.· But again not a

·5· ·design, just a block diagram.

·6· · · · · · · ·It doesn't address -- one thing of

·7· ·note, it does not address any of the site

·8· ·constraints that may be particular to the layout

·9· ·and functionally of the facility since the current

10· ·site is unknown as part of your alls proposal

11· ·package.

12· · · · · · · ·And so bear in mind and take into

13· ·consideration as you do your preliminary design

14· ·layouts that it does need to reflect the

15· ·constraints, uniqueness of the sites that may

16· ·proposed.

17· · · · · · · ·MR. SEIFERT:· Thanks, Derek.

18· ·Appreciate it.

19· · · · · · · ·MR. GRAY:· Yes, sir.

20· · · · · · · ·MR. SEIFERT:· And just to kind of

21· ·piggyback on what Derek was saying.· VA at the

·1· ·local level, so that medical center and the

·2· ·Tennessee Valley Health System has spent a fair

·3· ·amount of time, you know, working on this and

·4· ·coming up with the adjacencies and what they think

·5· ·the flow should be like.

·6· · · · · · · ·So I say that in that, you know, ·7· ·you're free to offer whatever you'd like in terms

·8· ·of the layout, but just keep in mind that this is

·9· ·kind of what -- in terms of adjacencies and flow, 10· ·this is what VA has come up with and, you know, 11· ·sticking with it as much as you can probably isn't

12· ·a bad idea.

13· · · · · · · ·And then the last appendix that we'll

14· ·talk about is Appendix B.· So this is VA

15· ·Janitorial Services and Site Management.· So this

16· ·is the janitorial scope that will become part of

17· ·the contract and what you will need to be pricing

18· ·in your operating expenses as part of the

19· ·proposal.

20· · · · · · · ·Lastly, we'll talk about a few of the

21· ·standard forms.· The first is GSA Form 1364.· So

·1· ·this is the pricing form.· You'll be submitting

·2· ·one of these for both your 15 year and your 20

·3· ·year proposal.

·4· · · · · · · ·On here you'll submit the information, ·5· ·building name, location, offered square footage.

·6· ·You'll capture what the rent is that you're

·7· ·proposing here.· You'll talk -- you'll capture

·8· ·your mark-ups for the architect and your PM markup

·9· ·as well.

10· · · · · · · ·The second part of this is the

11· ·additional financial aspect.· So this talks about

12· ·free rent.· If you're going to offer free rent at

13· ·the beginning or at any time during the lease, 14· ·that gets factored into the Present Value

15· ·Analysis.

16· · · · · · · ·Talking about adjustment for vacant

17· ·premises, adjustment for reduced space.· This

18· ·information is taken for the successful Offeror

19· ·and put into the lease itself.

20· · · · · · · ·And, again, the key thing is that you

21· ·will be submitting this for both your 15 and your

·1· ·20 year term and then there's also an attachment

·2· ·to GSA Form 1364 that's an Excel spreadsheet that

·3· ·allows you if you want to bump your rate annually

·4· ·or every couple of years, whatever the case is on

·5· ·the shell rate, that form will give you the

·6· ·ability to show how you'd like that to be

·7· ·structured.· So both -- you know, that form needs

·8· ·to be completed and that form has a spot for both

·9· ·the 20 year and the 15 year term on it.

10· · · · · · · ·Next is your GSA Form 1217.· So GSA

11· ·Form 1217 is your operating cost and it's broken

12· ·into two areas.· So Section 1 which we all call it

13· ·kind of above line 27, those are your operating

14· ·expenses.· So that's per Government leasing, that

15· ·will be your operating expense number that gets

16· ·escalated annually by CPI to hopefully keep up

17· ·with inflation and your operating costs.

18· · · · · · · ·The numbers that are below line 27, so

19· ·Section 2 that gets summed up in line 33 which is

20· ·your real estate taxes, your insurance, 21· ·maintenance and management, those costs are built

·1· ·in to your shell rate.

·2· · · · · · · ·And so although they show up on the

·3· ·form for operating expenses, those specific costs

·4· ·are built into the shell.

·5· · · · · · · ·The next form is GSA Form 3517 B.

·6· ·This is General Clauses.· These are standard

·7· ·across all Government lease contracts.· And this, ·8· ·you know, basically governs the lease after award

·9· ·and, you know, what can happen.· You know, there's

10· ·performance, payment, standards of conduct, all

11· ·sorts of different things that aren't in the lease

12· ·itself but are covered within the general clauses

13· ·which becomes part of the lease document.

14· · · · · · · ·Kind of just to wrap up here with, you

15· ·know, some reminders and general contract

16· ·requirements.

17· · · · · · · ·Again you need to make sure that the

18· ·building meets fire and life safety regulations, 19· ·physical security and accessibility.· The property

20· ·has to be zoned, obviously, for this specific

21· ·medical use.

·1· · · · · · · ·It needs to meet all Codes, Local and

·2· ·Federal.· And you need to make sure that your cost

·3· ·of construction you're paying Davis-Bacon wages, ·4· ·that's both for the shell and the TI, and that the

·5· ·Uniform Accessibility Standards are met.

·6· · · · · · · ·A few other reminders.· And it kind of

·7· ·goes without saying, but make sure you read

·8· ·everything in the RLP.· I know a lot of the folks

·9· ·on this call bid on tens if not hundreds of these

10· ·projects.· Each one is a little bit different in

11· ·terms of what's in the RLP, so just make sure that

12· ·you understand specific to this project what's in

13· ·there.

14· · · · · · · ·Looking at Section 3.02 to make sure

15· ·you have a fully compliant offer and looking at

16· ·that proposal matrix.

17· · · · · · · ·Initial every page when you submitted

18· ·the proposal.

19· · · · · · · ·Making sure it's complete and

20· ·consistent.· One thing that we have been seeing is

21· ·a lot of these projects are out at similar times, ·1· ·there are references to other projects or other

·2· ·locations, you know, just kind of making sure that

·3· ·this offer is specific to the Bowling Green

·4· ·requirement so when we're looking at it, and most

·5· ·importantly the Technical Evaluation Board is

·6· ·looking at it, they're sure that the reference is

·7· ·specific to this project and that the design is to

·8· ·this project.

·9· · · · · · · ·And making sure that you're registered

10· ·in SAM.· So, again, the SAM registration has to be

11· ·in the name of the offering entity and that needs

12· ·to be active and that also needs to match the

13· ·entity that controls the property, so through that

14· ·option to purchase contract or something else.

15· · · · · · · ·A couple other reminders.· The Phase I

16· ·and the Cultural Resources Study need to be

17· ·provided with the initial offer.· Those are long

18· ·lead time items so I'd recommend that folks get on

19· ·that early for their specific sites.

20· · · · · · · ·For the narratives that will be

21· ·backing up your plans, make sure that they're

·1· ·deliberate and concise.· Your Technical Evaluation

·2· ·Board for this project is going to be looking at

·3· ·multiple proposals and if they get proposals that

·4· ·are super wordy and they're not concise and

·5· ·they're not to the point in trying to get that

·6· ·message across, things can get lost in the long

·7· ·narrative.

·8· · · · · · · ·So I recommend, you know, making sure

·9· ·that those narratives are to the point and address

10· ·what's being looked for in Section 4 of the RLP.

11· · · · · · · ·We talked about kind of eliminating

12· ·discrepancies, references to other projects, 13· ·references to different square footages in the

14· ·proposal or different parking numbers or things

15· ·like that.

16· · · · · · · ·Probably the last bullet is the most

17· ·important is that we're not going to be accepting

18· ·any conditional offers.· So the terms are what

19· ·they are.· We're not going to be changing the

20· ·lease for one group versus another group.· And so

21· ·no proposals can be conditioned on changes to the

·1· ·standard lease language.

·2· · · · · · · ·We talked about the evidence of

·3· ·ownership.· Occupancy date.· So as part of the

·4· ·PMP, Project Management Plan, you guys will be

·5· ·submitting a schedule that includes kind of design

·6· ·as well as construction into occupancy and just

·7· ·making sure that you're comfortable with that.

·8· ·Those numbers will be transposed into the lease

·9· ·itself in Section 4.01.· And it will be something

10· ·that, you know, the successful developer is held

11· ·to.

12· · · · · · · ·So making sure that you can hit the

13· ·occupancy date but that the durations and the

14· ·schedule is realistic.

15· · · · · · · ·And we talked about the financial

16· ·resources and just how important, specifically in

17· ·this market, that that is.· It's harder and harder

18· ·to get loans, especially for commercial real

19· ·estate and we want to make sure that as soon as

20· ·the award is made this project is off and running

21· ·and it's not delayed at all because of financing

·1· ·issues.

·2· · · · · · · ·Kind of lastly on the questions and

·3· ·answers.· The questions are due by the 16th of

·4· ·August, like we talked about, 4:00 p.m.· Those can

·5· ·be sent directly to Ed as outlined in the RLP.

·6· ·And really important is that they need to be

·7· ·submitted on an Excel sheet.· So don't take an

·8· ·Excel sheet and make it a PDF for us.

·9· · · · · · · ·The easiest way to get these questions

10· ·is in an Excel document, putting the number

11· ·question in row A, referencing where the question

12· ·is from, so--

13· · · · · · · ·So let's just say in row B, you know, 14· ·RLP Section 3.06, and then what the question is

15· ·about that specific section of the RLP.

16· · · · · · · ·And the same if it was Appendix A and

17· ·then what the question is.· That will allow us to

18· ·quickly understand what you're asking and it will

19· ·help us get you a better answer going forward.

20· · · · · · · ·So that's everything we wanted to

21· ·touch on today.· I appreciate everybody's time and

·1· ·look forward to receiving folks' questions by the

·2· ·mid part of this month and then getting the

·3· ·initial offers in late September.

·4· · · · · · · ·If you have any questions at all, ·5· ·please submit those in writing and we will get

·6· ·back to you as soon as possible.

·7· · · · · · · ·Have a great afternoon.

·8· · · · ·(Proceedings concluded at 11:50 p.m.)

·9

·1· ·State of Maryland

·2· ·Baltimore County, to wit:

·3· · · · · · ·I, PAULA J. ELIOPOULOS a Notary Public of the

·4· ·State of Maryland, County of Baltimore, do hereby

·5· ·certify that the within proceedings occurred remotely

·6· ·before me via Zoom at the time herein set out.

·7· · · · · · ·I further certify that the proceedings were

·8· ·recorded stenographically by me and this transcript is

·9· ·a true record of the proceedings.

10· · · · · · ·I further certify that I am not of counsel to

11· ·any of the parties, nor in any way interested in the

12· ·outcome of this action.

13· · · · · · ·As witness my hand and notarial seal this

14· ·19th day of August, 2024.

16· · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·_______________________

17· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·PAULA J. ELIOPOULOS

18· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Notary Public

19· ·My Commission Expires:

20· ·June 15, 2028