36C10G19Q0057-0001001.pdf

RFQ 36C10G-19-Q-0057

North Atlantic Region

Questions from Vendors Answers from Government

1. Could you please tell me if the Combined Synopsis/Solicitation posted as solicitation number

36C10G19Q0057 on FBO contains requirements similar to any work performed currently or in the past, or will this be a new requirement? If possible, can you please provide the most recent contract or task order number?

ANSWER: Yes, the combined synopsis Request for Quote (RFQ) 36C10G-19-Q-0057 contains work that is somewhat similar to current Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) 36C10G-18-A-0214, 36C10G-18-A-0228, and 36C10G-18-A-0229. However, the Government has made numerous changes to RFQ 36C10G-19-Q-0057’s Performance Work Statement (PWS) and CLIN descriptions.

Therefore, the Government does not recommend that prospective quoters use the current Total Price or Unit Prices in those BPAs as the basis of any quote submitted under RFQ 36C10G-19-Q- 0057.

2. Is there an incumbent?

ANSWER: There is no current BPA or incumbent currently providing File Room and Scanning Services in the North Atlantic Region.

3. If there is an incumbent, can the incumbent bid on this opportunity?

ANSWER: The previous incumbent can bid on this opportunity.

4. If this is not a new opportunity, what is the contact #?

ANSWER: VA119-17-A-0230

Page 90 calls out experience requirements, can this experience come collectively from both the Prime Contractor and the sub-contractor or is this experience requirement just from the Prime Contractor?

ANSWER: Yes, as long as 50% or more of the Range of Magnitude (ROM) will be manufactured/performed by the SDVOSB, whether they are the Prime or Sub.

5. Page 91, number 13, “For Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB) and Veteran- Owned Small Businesses (VOSB), indicate if 50% or more of the Range of Magnitude (ROM) will be manufactured/performed by your firm of other eligible SDVOSB/VOSB firms, or other small business firms”, Can a VOSB be the prime contractor and SDVOSB be the sub-contractor?

ANSWER: Yes, as long as 50% or more of the Range of Magnitude (ROM) will be manufactured/performed by the SDVOSB.

6. On page 17, the estimated number of facilities chart states, “Volume of records”, is that measured in folders?

ANSWER: Yes

7. What is the average processing time per each item number that requires scanning and digitizing services?

ANSWER: VHA scanning productivity is 8 uploads per hour.

8. CLINs: What does the Qty and Unit represent? “245,700.00 EA” is this estimated number of documents/records/labor hours/pages, etc.? If records, what is the average number of pages per record?

ANSWER: The Government is not required to answer questions of this nature, see explanation be at the end of all questions/answers.

9. For the CLIN Quantity, is that number inclusive of incoming electronic records that require processing (as stated on page 23), as well as paper documents that require scanning services?

ANSWER: Documents could be in paper or electronic format.

10. Page 34 states that the “Contractor shall provide STAT (STAT- requires immediate or urgent) scanning or importing of documents”, What is the average documents in a record per STAT request at a time that would need to be processed?

ANSWER: Varies by facility

11. On page 24, the anticipated start date is June 15, 2019, how many days post-award does each service site need to have personnel on hand, trained, and fully operational?

ANSWER: Varies by task order/facility need. After BPA is issued, the BPA Holder must be prepared to have qualified personnel onsite when task order is scheduled to begin.

12. On page 52, why is the PoP different for the CLINs from the Section “Performance Period”? The CLINs on page 52 start 26 Jun while the section on page 24 starts 15 June?

ANSWER: The anticipated start date of the BPA should state June 26, 2019.

13. Is there a transition period prior to the PoP identified with each CLIN on page 24 and again on page 52?

ANSWER: The anticipated start date of the BPA should state June 26, 2019.

14. Where are the two locations that require “File Room Services” as identified on page 17?

ANSWER: This is an estimated number and location could be anywhere in the North Atlantic Region.

15. What is the estimated volume of records for each of the two locations requiring File Room Services?

ANSWER: Varies by facility

16. What is the current staffing per location requiring File Room Services?

ANSWER: The Government does not know at this time which North Atlantic facilities will issue task orders off the BPA. Also, there is no current staffing at any location at this time providing these services.

17. On page 18 for “Estimated number of facilities that require Scanning services”, where are the locations that will be serviced by contract year required for scanning services and what is the volume per location?

orders off the BPA.

18. What is the current staffing per location that require Scanning Services?

orders off the BPA.

19. Do the records in the file rooms requiring record retirement and relocation require packaging services?

20. For File Retirement and relocation, is that only being done at the two locations that require file room services or is this also being done at the 23 sites that require scanning services? If relocation and record retirement is required at the scanning sites, is that done by the scanning personnel or separate staffing?

21. Page 30 number 2, both A & B, what is the amount of time required for Community Care clinical document with consult request association and consult result note creation?

22. What is the amount of time required for Community Care clinical document without consult request association?

23. Please clarify line item 0001 “NORTH ATLANTIC REGION Community Care document type Scanning, Importing, and Indexing” refers to “Clinical document from outside provider paid by VA” on page 30 as well as “Clinical document from outside provider not paid by the VA” page 31.

24. Are Kodak i4250 scanners acceptable by the VA in order to scan and digitize their records?

25. After documents are scanned, imaged, and indexed, what would happen next? Would they require records retention/boxed and shipped back to the VA location/do they just go back on the shelf if scanning is done on-site? What are the requirements post- scanning?

26. What time is the proposal actually due? Section A page 1 block 8 states 1:00 pm, while block 20 states 0900.

ANSWER: Quotes are due May 20, 2019 at 1:00 AM EST.

27. What level of Facility Clearance does the prime contractor require?

28. Section 9. Training, will the required training need to be completed prior to contract start? If, so, will access be provided to these sites?

ANSWER: Training shall be provided at each facility at the very start of the task order.

29. Is this a single award BPA?

ANSWER: Yes.

30. Is there an initial task order associated to the BPA award?

ANSWER: The Government plans to issue several task orders (one task order per facility) off of this

BPA.

31. What is the definition of MyVA region where the PM has to work referenced in section 5.4 on page 36?

32. Page 47, Section A 1.0 5- What necessary licenses and/or permits are required?

ANSWER: The Government is not required to answer questions of this nature, see explanation at

33. What documentation is required to ensure the SDVOSB has been verified referenced on page 66?

ANSWER: As stated on the 1st page of the RFQ, block 20, “Vendors are required to be registered as a Service Disabled Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB) in the Vendor Information Pages (VIP) Database prior to the close of the solicitation. All unverified SDVOSBs (not in VIP) shall be considered nonresponsive and their quote will not be evaluated.”

34. What is the format for submission of past performance?

35. What volume would past performance be associated to?

36. On page 92 the solicitation requests whether the contractor holds a FAS Federal Supply Schedule contract & number, are the task orders going to be issued using that contract vehicle?

ANSWER: No, not for this BPA. The Government typically asks this question in RFQs to plan for future procurements.

37. On page 76, a Service Level Agreement (SLA) Fee is called out, what is the Service Level Agreement Fee for this BPA? 3% of labor, supplies, or total cost?

ANSWER: As stated in the RFQ on page 76 in C.13, “SAC 16-01 SAC SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT FEE

AND SUBMISSION OF QUARTERLY SALES REPORTS: OPEN MARKET. (JAN 2016)”

“The current SLA which applies to this contract action is 3.0%. This SLA Fee shall be imbedded in the awarded contract/agreement price(s), and offers submitted in response to this solicitation shall include this SLA Fee in the price of every line item offered.

b. Quarterly Sales Reports.

The Contractor shall report all contract sales under this contract and submit collected SLAs as follows:

(1) The Contractor shall accurately report the dollar value, in U.S. dollars and rounded to the nearest whole dollar, of all sales made under this contract by calendar quarter (January 1–March 31, April 1–

June 30, July 1–September 30, and October 1–December 31). Reported sales must include all sales made to all authorized contract or agreement users, whether shipped directly to the users or through Prime Vendor contractors. The report shall reflect sales by contract line item and shall segment sales by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Other Government Agencies (OGA). The reported contract sales shall include the SLA Fee and each quarterly report shall show the total SLA Fee amount collected on the reported sales. The Contractor shall maintain a consistent accounting method of sales reporting, based on the Contractor’s established commercial accounting practice.

The Contractor shall consistently use only one of the following acceptable points at which sales may be reported—"

38. Are the mentioned services currently being provided by another Contractor? If so, what was the value of a 1 yr. contract?

ANSWER: The mentioned services are not being provided by another contractor in the North Atlantic Region at this time.

39. What percentage of records does the VA anticipate can be scanned off-site?

ANSWER: That is a facility decision. Previous experience has shown that the majority prefer on-site scanning and remote indexing.

40. Will processing for the facilities occur one at a time? Or will the contractor be processing documents at multiple facilities at one time?

ANSWER: There may be task orders at multiple facilities at the same time.

41. Are all boxes currently ready for pickup? If not, what is the estimated number of boxes that will be ready for pickup at one time? And at what intervals?

ANSWER: Determined by facility task order.

42. If materials are to be picked up in intervals, after the initial pickup, can a 3rd party carrier pick up the remaining boxes and deliver it to the contractor?

ANSWER: The carrier must have door to door tracking as part of their service.

43. What are the Size dimensions of the documents?

ANSWER: Most are standard 8 ½ by 11.

44. What are the approximate volumes for each size dimension?

45. What is the condition of the mentioned documents both for scanning and file retirement?

ANSWER: Documents may be paper or electronic, and my need to be prepped (containing staples, etc.)

46. What is the percentage of 8.5 x 11, 11 x 17 and large format documents for the project?

47. What is the estimated volume of single- and double-sided documents?

48. Do the scanned documents need to be reassembled?

ANSWER: Scanned documents need to be kept in the order scanned in order to perform QA.

49. Will the VA provide an electronic file listing for each box that is to be scanned off-site? Or an electronic manifest (Excel or Word doc) for the pickup of documents?

ANSWER: Historically, no.

50. Is there a specific template for the data repository that the contractor will need to follow to upload documents?

ANSWER: Yes, provided at time of task order.

51. Can you provide an example of the indexing format? What is the estimated total number of files to be indexed?

52. Per the list on page 18 of facilities that require scanning services will any of the mentioned facilities require the scanning to be processed on-site? If yes, can the VA provide the number of facilities?

ANSWER: It’s possible, but this will be determined by facility at the time of the task order.

53. Can the VA provide a list of all facilities and the specifics of the task required? Example.

Fredericksburg scanning only, Fredericksburg File room services only or Fredericksburg scanning and file room services.

54. Per the CLIN # 0004,1004,2004,3004,4004; can the VA explain the Stat scanning requirement and the mentioned quantity?

ANSWER: Defined within the PWS.

55. For the scanning files to be returned to record storage, can it be returned via a 3rd party carrier?

ANSWER: A carrier must have door to door tracking.

56. Can the VA please provide what the requirements are for determining retirement status? What inventory system do they get checked out of and what inventory tracking do they get entered?

ANSWER: Retirement status will be determined in a report run by the individual facility. There is a record keeping module in VISTA. Or there is a FileMan report that can be run by the facility.

57. Can the VA please elaborate on what requirements are there for material tracking given the preference for scan on demand?

58. Can the VA provide the standardized index values for doc typing already in use?

ANSWER: This will be provided by each facility.

59. Can the VA please define the counties of the onsite conversion locations to be used for LCAT WD rates so we can best come up with the price?

ANSWER: The Government does not know at this time what facilities, (or the counties the facilities are located) will issue task orders off the BPA.

60. Can the VA please provide a timeline defined by location for each TO? This is needed to define travel for each site for each year.

ANSWER: The Government does not know at this time what facilities, (or the timelines) will issue task orders off the BPA.

61. Can the VA confirm if indexing is to be performed remote or is onsite indexing required and some sites; if yes which of the sites will require 100% onsite conversion processing services?

ANSWER: Indexing can be either remote or onsite per facility preference.

62. Can the VA provide the square footage available for equipment / staffing at each of the locations that require onsite conversion processing?

ANSWER: The Government does not know at this time what facilities, (or the square footage) will issue task orders off the BPA.

63. Can the VA confirm if it will provide internet access to the conversion vendor at each facility; if yes what is the approx. bandwidth permitted?

ANSWER: Access to the VA network can be obtained.

64. Will the shipping costs be covered by the VHA for any / all relocation of materials either to the scanning vendor remote locations or to NARA or other VHA offices? If not, can the VA please provide exact addresses of all facilities that we’ll need to ship from and ship to, as well as approx.

timeframe of shipping so we can properly cost each item.

ANSWER: See 5.3. Original shipping to vendor is at the cost of the government. Return is covered by the government in the form of a COST CLIN. Addresses will be provided at time of task order.

65. Does the VA have a performed courier to be used?

ANSWER: A courier that provides door to door tracking is required.

66. What are the available working hours for onsite conversion services?

ANSWER: Vary by site; discussed at the time of task order.

67. Will there be a need to accommodate any VHA or IV&V personnel within the conversion vendors remote operation centers or within the onsite conversion facility locations?

ANSWER: No.

68. Can the VA please provide the specifics for each facility and approx. schedule. For example: if scanning/indexing are being done on site, or material is shipped to our facility to scan/index, location of the facility, layout of the facility (available space to perform work, loading dock, elevator, physical access, etc.). All these items have specific cost implications.

ANSWER: Varies by facility/task order.

69. Can the VA provide access for vendor to inspect and measure existing file rooms at VHA sites to estimate need between archiving and scanning files? This will provide the information needed to give the best price to the VA

ANSWER: Varies by facility/task order. VA will determine what services (archiving vs scanning) they will purchase.

*Explanation to ANSWERS: The Government is not required to answer questions of this nature, see explanation be at the end of all questions/answers.

• Questions where the answers should already be common knowledge in the industry of File Room and Scanning Documents.

• Questions where the Government has already explained in detail in the PWS.

• Questions that are very similar (even if reworded) to the questions the Government is asking in the RFQ under E.2 ADDENDUM to FAR 52.212-1, “INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS—COMMERCIAL ITEMS” on page 89-92.