Canton OH Pre Bid Conference 36C10F26R0052 Transcript.pdf

Canton, OH Pre Bid Conference VIRTUAL-

20260805_070301-Meeting Recording

August 5, 2026, 2:03PM

30m 9s

Samantha Barr/USA started transcription

James Cassidy 0:03 pre-bid conference for the RLP that was just released a week and a half ago now. So we're just going to cover a couple of things. The first couple of slides here are just very administrative and cover down on some details, introduce the team from both the VA side and the broker team who you'll be interacting with throughout this procurement if you plan on bidding.

So, that's it. So, Sam, go ahead to the next slide.

Okay, real high level stuff. You know, we're recording this meeting. Everything's going to get posted to Sam on the back end. So don't worry about taking, you know, jotting down notes and stuff like this. We need a recording, we'll put it out to you.

Big thing here on this slide, so, you know, pay attention to this. The due date for questions is next Monday, August 10th.

and they need to be in to us by 5 P.m. So if you have RFIs or questions or comments that you want to get back to the VA that you're looking for clarification on, get them in the sooner the better than us. Please, if you have them already done, don't wait until the 10th. Send them in now. We want to get a quick turn. Our goal is after you submit them to get a quick turn back to you.

Because everything's due, then your office are due on September 14th. So we want to make sure you get enough time to address anything that's answered in those questions. And any question you submit will be posted back on sam.gov with the response. Everyone will be seeing it. So I would imagine

Most of you on this call have had been a participant in the VA procurement process before, so you're aware of that. But one overarching theme, like always, and I'm sure

Cynthia or LCO is going to hit this next, but procurement integrity and sensitivity is always top of mind. So we're not supposed to be talking amongst offers or, you know, the VA team's not going to be talking.

or sharing information on different offers with other people that shouldn't be part of the procurement process. And we expect that from all the offers during this. So that's

it. So the big thing here, questions, get them in as soon as you can, but your deadline is August 10th, next Monday. Next slide, Sam.

Okay, I'd like to introduce Cynthia White now, the LCO for the project. So Cynthia, I'll turn it over to you.

White, Cynthia M (CFM) 2:09

Thank you, James. Good morning. Again, I want to stress that the procurement integrity and sensitivity is very important here so that we don't compromise the procurement process. Really quick, I just want to go over the purpose of the pre-bid.

today. Today, we just want to provide a general overview of the requirements set forth in the RLP. The RLP number is 36C10F26R0052. Also, we want to communicate to the potential offers to refer to the RLP package for complete understanding of the requirements in order to submit a fully responsive proposal.

And finally, we want to make sure that you submit your questions in writing, as

James says, by 5:00 PM Eastern Time on August the 10th of 2026. Questions must reference to RLP, lease section, and be submitted in a single document.

VA will provide the question and answer matrix via an amendment on Sam.gov after that question period closes.

James Cassidy 3:38

Thanks, Cynthia. You're going to hear those dates over and over again in this slide deck. So the key dates, we're just going to keep hitting until August 10th. You'll see it three or four more times for you to end this deck. A couple of things we're going to hit on the call today. Obviously, we just did some opening remarks. We'll have an introduction slide next to meet you to introduce some more of the team.

project overview, RLP package, what's inside of it. Greg Lazar is going to come on and talk about some of the design appendices and what you need to key in on there.

And then we'll wrap it up one final slide. We're going to hit the dates again so no one misses them. And anything on there. As far as Q&A during this brief, there's no live Q&A. So any questions you have, Putting them right in, submit them to us, like Cynthia was just mentioning. So, next slide.

You met Cynthia, she's the LCO. Garland, I don't know if you want to jump on and say hi real quick, but Garland Gilsey's the PM for CFM for this project.

Gill, Garland (CFM) 4:36

Good morning, everyone.

James Cassidy 4:39

Thank you, Garland. And then we have Greg Lazar. You're going to hear from him towards the end of this deck. The rest of the VA team, I'm not going to read everyone's name off, but they're on there. And then from the broker team, myself and then my partner, Sam Barry, you'll be communicating a lot with us if you're going to respond to this RLP or if you were part of the EOI and market tour process, you've probably seen our names.

and e-mail us through correspondence that way. So, Sam, next slide. Next slide.

Okay, so big picture items right here. This is an outpatient clinic. We're looking for

52,290 all the way up to 60,130 above a square feet. Must be contiguous on two floors, 300 parking spaces dedicated for VH use. We'll price and evaluate you on both a 15 and 20 year term.

So make sure you're submitting pricing options as both, and obviously following the instructions for those as outlined in the RLP. The lease is fully serviced. All utilities, taxes, janitorial are going to be included and evaluated that way. And then the TI allowance will be in there, will be lump sum, and we have a slide in here that outlines the TI amount. I think it's right around 24 million, but we'll get to that end of further slide. The lease commencement date will be on the acceptance of the space and substantial completion is approximately 28 months from award. So the 28 months from award, as you're building your plans of how you would deliver the space for the VA, like that's the target.

you need to hit or beat. That's what we're gonna be looking for in the 28 months.

Next slide.

Procurement steps. There's been a lot to go into this procurement to get to this point. Obviously, there was a whole requirements development process that the VA went through. Then we went out to the market and the sources saw expression of interest phase a few months back in February time frame. We did a market tour out in Canton.

And then we went the last couple of months developing this RLP. We finally got it issued and approved to get issued a week and a half ago. So bolt number one, issuance is done. Bolt #2 is the pre-bid conference that we're doing today.

September 24th is the next, or September 14th is the next big milestone. That's the receipt of when you submit your initial offers.

We'll go through an entire process to evaluate them through a technical evaluation board process. And then we'll come back to you if we want revised proposals. We do cover this later on, but we can and reserve the right to award off initial offers if everything works out that way. But if it doesn't, we'll go back, we request revised proposals, go through another technical evaluation.

Then during that process, there's also environmental and cultural due diligence work going on in the background for, you know, the sites that we have kind of shortlisted.

And then we kind of prepare the final lease award package and make an award sometime down the line. I think once we receive initial offers in, we'll have maybe better clarity to share an approximate time frame of when.

we anticipate a potential award being made for this project. So, next slide.

RLP overview. Next slide.

Okay, so the RLP overview, the big thing with the RLP, there's five sections of it. They each have, you know, their own kind of swag about them. But section one is just telling you what the VA needs, outlining very clearly what they're looking for in terms of size, parking, and pricing and that kind of stuff. The section 2 is...

what you need to have as a firm and as a site to be in compliance to be considered for award. Section 3 is just when to submit your offer, how to submit your offer, and what to submit in your offering package. Section 4 is how our team and the VA is going to evaluate your submission.

that you get back to us. And then section 5 of the RLP is just kind of additional terms and conditions. It's a close up, clean up section that we kind of tackle things in there that didn't fit into other sections, but still very important and relevant information that you need to look to. I would say the biggest thing if you haven't gone through a

VA procurement for is to read top to bottom, the RLP and the L100 to, those two documents tied together. And if you're not clear on how, you know, what is listed in the RLP and how that's going to translate into an eventual L100 or the lease document, then you need to go back and take a look at it because it is pretty clear. And every procurement is different. So if you think, oh, I just did this on another VA procurement item to read it. I would start over and read the entire thing at the bottom for this Canton project. Next slide. We're going to turn it over to Sam. And now, through the rest of this deck, we're going to go through section, each section that we just talked about, section one through five of the RLP.

And just, we're not going to go through every subcategory in there, but we're going to pick on the ones that kind of get a lot of questions on and Sam and myself are just going to highlight and talk through, you know, what we want you to focus on there. So Sam, why don't you talk through section one?

Samantha Barr/USA 9:43

Thanks, James. So section one, the statement of requirements. The lease term is going to be up to 20 years. James did mention this before. We are asking that you submit both that 15 year firm term and the 20 year firm term in your proposal.

Section 1.03 is the area of consideration. On here we have the north-south, east, and western boundary.

The important thing here is that buildings with property boundaries on the boundary

St. or adjacent to the street are considered within the delineated area of consideration.

So on the next slide here, we just have the delineated area map, which I'm sure you guys have seen several times that does just outline, you know, the previous slides boundaries.

So 1.04 is going to talk about unique requirements. These are the four things that absolutely must meet as a minimum requirement. So the first is that following space configurations cannot be considered a space with atriums or areas interrupting contiguous space.

extremely long or narrow runs of space. So this is using an example as more than twice as long as wide, irregularly shaped space configurations, or any sort of unusual building features that adversely affects the usage. The next thing on here is space can't be considered where there's apartment space or any sort of residential or living quarters located in that same building.

Next, the offered space must be compatible for VA's intended use. And then lastly, the offered space can't be considered if it's close to railroad tracks, flight paths, really any business or operation with excessive noise or vibration that's going to affect clinical operations.

Or veteran satisfaction.

Next, in section 1.06, you have the list of all the RLP documents. What you want to do is make sure that you go into each of those, make sure you open them up, download them, and take a good look at every single document included in this RLP package.

So section 2 is going to be the eligibility and preferences for award. The big ones here is 2.02, which is floodplains. So the site absolutely cannot be inside a 100 year floodplain. That includes both the ingress and the egress routes. Second, here we have accessibility.

So you want to verify in your lease proposal that the building space and area meets all the accessibility requirements or will meet all the accessibility requirements. That also applies to section 2.07, which is your fire protection and life safety. So again, verify in your lease proposal.

that the building meets or will meet all of those requirements and provide your building code and the written commitment to meet all of those requirements.

So moving on in section 2, next we have ESA or the Energy Independence and

Security Act. The Energy Star label is required 18 months after occupancy. So in your offer, you do want to show how and will this, how this will be obtained. In the RLP, there is the web link for the Energy Star target.

finder tool that you can use as a tool there. So next we have the NEPA requirements, 2.10, which is the National Environmental Policy Act requirements. So this is really important that a phase one study does need to be completed within 180 days of the initial RLP due date.

So that does mean that a partial submittal or no submittal at all could exclude your offer from consideration. And then it does touch on that hydrology statement here, which is in section 3.01, submittal O, and the additional submittals.

Next is the National Historic Preservation Act requirements. Historic preference will be given. If you are claiming historic preference, you want to make sure that you have the letter claiming the preference or that NRHP ID number. And then lastly here, it's just mentioning that the cultural

Resources study report is also going to be required.

So next, I will pass it back to James to talk about Section 3.

James Cassidy 14:28

Thanks, Sam.

I think the biggest thing on the slide, obviously the dates up top are very important, but the red text there, speaking with Cynthia and Garland on this, there's no extensions right now. So we're not offering any extensions. The due date is the due date, September 14th. Plenty of time to get your offers packaged and submitted back to us.

In this section, again, we've talked about this already, but section 3.02 outline when to submit and then how to submit, and then, you know, what kind of format it needs to be in. So everything's clearly outlined in there. e-mail submissions come in, they should be sent to Cynthia, and then on the CC lines should be myself and Sam. If you have

And a lot of people have been doing this and we're absolutely fine with this and we encourage it. If you're going to send us, if you're going to submit via a SharePoint link or a Dropbox link or any other kind of platform like that, you can go ahead and test to make sure it works, send it to us a couple hours before or the day before saying, hey, I'm going to submit on the SharePoint site, send us a link, make sure

Sam and I can access it.

and we can actually open and download the files. You don't want to be put in a position where you're right up against the deadline, you hit submit, you send us a

SharePoint link, and we can't access it, and we can't access the files. It could be deemed that you missed the deadline at that point, and then a lot of hard work goes into nothing. So feel free to send us the links beforehand.

We'll make sure we can access them and that we can get to your files once you eventually submit the full package. So everything in 3.02 should be read and don't make an administrative error. This is where it could come in this section. So next slide.

Um...

So again, what you need to include is in 3.01. Everything must be there plus the all of the additional submittals in section 4.03. There are also 3.6 is also some additional submittal items that we need to that you should catch to make sure we're capturing everything in your submission package.

Section 3.04 talks about how we score your offer. So the offer, the submission that you give to us needs to score as an operating lease. You cannot score as a capital lease. So what that means is the net present value of your offer divided by the fair market value.

That the that the VA puts to it needs to be below 90%, and if you score above 90%.

then you would be scoring as a capitalist and the VA will not award to that. So you need to be below the 90% threshold to even be, to really be evaluated. If it's above

90, we'll come back to you. But if it's, we don't have to come back if you're not getting to the next round. So make sure you're scoring below the 90%.

Next slide.

Ten improvements, we've talked about this, but the lump sum amount is going to be

$24,865,000. And that will take the shell box that you're giving us to the finished usable condition that the VA is looking for. The operating costs are outlined in section 3.11.

And you need to select on your 1364 if you're adjusting annually by the CPI. And that's how operating costs are going to be looked at. Again, this is a fully serviced transaction that the VA is looking for. Next slide.

Okay, so best value, if you've never done best value before on a VA deal, we're going to evaluate the contract price and the technical factors separately, and then make an award on the best overall value to the government. So we look at price, technical factors, not together, but independently. And then we make a decision on what's the best overall offer for the government to go into. The government intends to evaluate proposals and award contracts without discussion with offers. So what this means is the LCO you know, has the ability to award off initial offers. So everybody's saying, put your best foot forward, your best terms on cost and pricing from a technical standpoint in your initial offer, because it doesn't always happen, but it can happen that we get an offer in and the VA can make an award based off initial offers.

Next slide.

Okay, so the evaluation factors, we have 6 evaluation factors. These are listed in order of importance, so by factor. So the sub-factors in each category are not of any importance listing, but factor one, location, all the way down to factor 6, socioeconomic status. Again, this is an unrestricted.

procurement. I think, I don't think we hit that yet, Sam, but we should talk about that in a second. These are the evaluation factors. So when we have a technical evaluation board to review the submissions, we're going to go through each of these technical factors to make sure you addressed each issue in there, each sub-factor, and then how well you did in those addressing those.

can change the VA layout. Next slide.

PBA, we will do a present value analysis on both the 15, 20 year terms. There is a very large section of the R100 that outlines how we run that calculation. So if you're not familiar with it, make sure you read it. Again, fully service lease, including OpEx, taxes and janitorial. TI lump sum, we already covered, 24,865,000.

And then again, rent tax is always important, but the offer cannot exceed the GSA prospectus level. And I got to go back and look, but I know for 26, it was 3.9 million on service to annual rents. I need to see what it is going to be for.

when we evaluate, you know, because this is going to be coming up to the end of the fiscal year. So whatever that jumps to, I think it's four point something. But you can look it up online. It's not a it's not a hidden secret. But we cannot exceed that threshold for whatever the GSA prospectus number is by the time we get to award.

Next slide, Sam.

Oh, back to you actually. I think you're into these.

Samantha Barr/USA 20:54

So additional terms and conditions, the off-site improvements, the cost of the off-site improvements is going to be borne by the lessor. So the lessor or, you know, the offeror is going to be responsible for determining those off-site improvements prior to lease award and then include you know, those off-site improvements in your proposed rent. So due diligence, the lessor acknowledges its duty to conduct reasonable site inspections for the proposed site. And then lastly, teaming arrangement, the offeror must provide evidence of teaming arrangements with both the general contractor and the design team that you are presenting in your offer.

So next here, we have the design overview and appendices, and we're going to ask

Greg to speak on that.

Lazar, Gregory (CFM) 21:46

You can go to the next slide.

Agency specific requirements. So these are attachments to the in the package. The program for design includes all the room types, quantities, and sizes. So those are the rooms you're trying to design a building around. The project room contents list supports that and goes into detail of what's VA furnished or contractor, contractor slash less or furnished that goes into those rooms. The

Thing you don't want to miss anytime is even items that are listed as VA furnished, a lot of them either need wall backing and or utility, so you're responsible to provide that. The lease design narrative in Room Data Matrix provides additional details.

The information provided in both those documents may contain room types that are not part of this lease. So the rooms, again, your rooms you're designing around is what's in the program for design portion.

The.

CBOC Information Transport Systems specification, that's the additional requirements from our IT group, and you're designing towards that. Security requirements based on the physical

On the FSL level 2 document, a conceptual floor plan. So in older procurements, we were designing a blocking diagram specifically for a building. This is a very generic, typical layout for a building of about this size.

just to give you a starting point for adjacencies, and it may or may not contain all of the rooms that are listed in the program for design.

Um...

An item that's included in this lease that is not in a lot of our leases that you need to pay special attention to is this appendix A7, which is additional security requirements.

Most of that deals around with a contract security guard that you need to provide as part of your proposal.

So you need to read through that. Just wanted to point out because most of our leases do not have that requirement, this one does. The lease services narrative.

which is in our newer lease packages, contains the descriptions for janitorial, building operations, building maintenance, and site maintenance requirements.

Go to the next slide.

This is what said the generic.

blocking diagram for a building of about this size, just to show adjacencies, and this may or may not include everything that's in the program for design. So the program for design is the room types that you're designing towards.

And next slide.

James Cassidy 24:57

Okay, thanks, Greg. Appreciate that. Just some final wrap-up thoughts. I think this is a mix of best practices we've seen across projects and stuff like that and things we just want to remind you of. So I'm actually going to read these bullet by bullet so everyone gets it to hit it home. So the first one, read the RLP and these documents in their entirety. I think we've already said this, but top to bottom, you should read these documents.

is to make sure you understand what you're responding to and how to respond and answering what the VA is looking for. Bullet point to provide responses and format described in RLP in the RLP section 3.02 receipt of these proposals. So it's clearly outlined the format with the different volumes of how you need to submit your responses back to us. So please

Make sure you're responding in that manner. The next bullet offers that do not comply specifically and correctly in accordance with the directions contained in the

RLP are at risk for contracting officers determination of non-responsive. So if you don't follow, you know, what's outlined in there, it could be deemed non-responsive and your offer would get would get tossed out. Next bullet, be certain that all documents accurately and consistently identify the offering entity. So we need to, there's a couple of other bullets on this, but make sure you're signing all the pages, make sure we know who the offering entity is. If you have some weird teaming arrangements or JVs or whatnot, we need to just know who that.

that offering entity is, make sure it's clear. The next one, this is a big one for me because it's always hard to sometimes find your sites or your buildings, but be certain that we can locate the property of the building you are proposing. This should be in the cover letter and very easy for us to identify. If the address is not yet available for your site, then please provide a 10-digit grid coordinate so we can identify it in the map and clearly map it out to where it lays inside the delineated area. Again, technical factor one is location. If we can't identify easily where the building is right from the start, it's a problem for us. Next bullet, be certain that attachment one numbers match exactly the numbers listed in GSA forms 1364 and 1217.

This is an easy one, but it gets missed all the time. People kind of make mistakes here. But whatever is listed in your 1364 and 1217 should get transcribed exactly down to the penny into your, that Excel sheet attachment one. That way the numbers match, everything jives across.

the documents that we're looking at. Because we use those numbers to go score your lease. And again, if you can't score as an operating lease, that becomes an issue.

Next bullet, be certain that all documents are properly initialed and signed by the authorized signatory. Okay. Next one, the offering entity must be registered in SAM and must be registered under the NAICS code for this procurement, which is 5311T0.

And that must be consistent with the operating agreement and completed offering offering entity acknowledgement form. So there's an exhibit in there. Sam hit it when she had that exhibit set up, but there is the offering entity acknowledgement form.

Everything needs to be tracking across what your entity name is. It needs to match in

Sam. You need to have the right NICS code and so forth. Last one here, please ensure that your offer is submitted by the deadline identified on the cover page.

of the RLP. And next slide, we're going to hit the dates one last time. Sam. Okay, RLP issuance, again, came out on the 23rd. The pre-bid conference is today. Questions are due next Monday, the 10th. But again, like I said, if you have them earlier, please, please give them to us. Just send them over to us and we can start working through our process of getting them answered accurately.

But your deadline is 5 P.m. Eastern time on the 10th next Monday. And then your offers are due to our team on September 14th. I believe that's a Monday, September

14th. I don't think it's a Thursday. No later than 5 P.m. Eastern. Hang on, I just want to confirm. Monday, September. Yeah.

Samantha Barr/USA 29:03

Yeah, I did some.

James Cassidy 29:04

Yeah. So initial offers due Monday, September 14th, 2026, no later than 5 P.m.

Eastern time. So that's your deadline to get everything submitted back to us. And like

I said, if you have links, SharePoint links, Dropbox links that you're going to be using to submit, feel free to send them to Sam and I beforehand so we can test them.

make sure they work, that we can access your files once you eventually submit. So that's all we have for everyone here. Again, like we opened it up, we are going to post this slide deck when we post the amendment for the answering of the Q&A. So everything will get posted back up to sam.gov.

Really appreciate everyone taking a few minutes to join this call this morning and for your participation potentially in the procurement for the Canton Outpatient Clinic.

It's a big project for the VA. It's a big project for the veterans in, you know, in the

Canton area. So we thank you for that and look forward to evaluating your submissions in a few weeks here.

Thank you.

Marty Posthauer 30:06

Thank you.

Samantha Barr/USA stopped transcription