36C24120R0162 0001.docx
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- Solicitation number
- 36C24120R0162
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This document is an amendment to a special notice requesting qualifications for a firm fixed price contract. The Veteran Integrated Service Network 1 is seeking an Architect/Engineer firm to perform statement of conditions and life safety assessments for nine medical centers in New England totaling approximately 5 million square feet. The scope of work includes performing a life safety survey, identifying deficiencies in life safety systems and records, providing updated life safety drawings, and completing all work within 180 calendar days. The total set-aside contract value is unspecified. Responses are due by October 23, 2020, and will be evaluated based on professional qualifications, reputation, specialized experience, teamwork, capacity, past performance, capability, commitment, and location. The selected firm must have experience with healthcare facilities and life safety assessments, and be located within the VISN 1 region.
The amendment provides answers to respondent questions that clarify inspection requirements, COVID-19 protocols, drawing accuracy needs, and support for future equivalency requests.
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| File | Type | Posted |
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| 36C24120R0162_1.docx | DOCX document |
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AMENDMENT A00001 TO SPECIAL NOTICE 36C24120R0162_1 REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS (SF-330)
Contract Opportunity Modification to a Previous Notice
PRODUCT SERVICE CODE
SUBJECT
CONTRACTING OFFICE'S
ZIP-CODE
SOLICITATION NUMBER
BASE NOTICE TYPE
RESPONSE DATE/TIME/ZONE
ARCHIVE
DAYS AFTER THE RESPONSE DATE
RECOVERY ACT FUNDS
SET-ASIDE
NAICS CODE
CONTRACTING OFFICE
ADDRESS
POINT OF CONTACT
(POC Information Automatically Filled from User Profile Unless Entered)
DESCRIPTION
See Attachment
AGENCY'S URL
URL DESCRIPTION
AGENCY CONTACT'S EMAIL
ADDRESS
EMAIL DESCRIPTION
ADDRESS
POSTAL CODE
COUNTRY
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
GENERAL INFORMATION
PLACE OF PERFORMANCE
* = Required Field Contract Opportunity Modification to a Previous Notice C213 Modification to Special Notice 36C24120R0162_1 VISN 1 Statement of Conditions and Life Safety Assessment
01053 36C24120R0162
10-23-2020
11:00AM
EASTERN TIME, NEW YORK, USA
N
SDVOSBC
541330 Department of Veterans Affairs
VA CENTRAL WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS HCS
Acquisitions-90 421 North Main Street Leeds MA 01053-9764 Heather Libiszewski-Gallien Heather.Libiszewski-Gallien@va.gov heather.libiszewski-gallien@va.gov 413-584-4040 ext 6386
Heather.Libiszewski-Gallien@va.gov
AMENDMENT TO SPECIAL NOTICE REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS (SF-330)
THE PURPOSE OF THIS AMENDMENT IS TO INCORPORATE ANSWERS TO THE REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI’S) RECEIVED FOR SPECIAL NOTICE 36C24120R0162_1.
The SF 330s are due on October 23 2020 at 11 AM Eastern Standard Time.
ALL OTHER PROVISIONS IN THIS NOTICE BELOW REMAIN IN EFFECT.
| 1.) | The contact information indicates that a “short list” of the 3 most highly rated firms after initial source selection will be chosen for negotiations of a contract award. Is the intent that the statement of work will be distributed across 3 different respondents, or will it be issued to a single respondent at a time for negotiations? The scope of work was provided with the original special notice as a courtesy and will be provided to a single respondent when a Request for Proposal has been issued. |
| 2.) | Under Statement of Work Section B.2, the life safety survey will include above ceiling inspections of fire and smoke barrier walls. Will a clean work booth or containment booth be required for these visual inspections where only a single ceiling tile will be opened at a time? The intent of this section is to verify the continuity of all fire rated and smoke barrier rated wall assemblies below the suspended ceilings, and only a sampling (5 or 10 of each depending on the building’s size) of those assemblies above the suspended ceilings in each building. That said, the POCs at each facility will identify ceiling tiles which are not infection control (IC) concerns, i.e. located in areas which do not need a containment system. Note – some of the rated barriers have IC sensitive areas (surgical suites for example) on one side but not the other (hallway) so the barrier may be inspected from the non-sensitive side. If the contractor runs into a situation where they cannot meet the minimum number of samples due to IC or any other reason, they should contact the COR (me) for resolution. Every effort will be made to provide a resolution without increasing work/cost or requiring a contract change order. Any cost increase or contract change order can only be authorized by the Contracting Officer. |
| 3.) | Are there any VA protocols relative to COVID-19 that may impact the ability to schedule or perform unencumbered on-site life safety assessments as required by Statement of Work Section B.2? Contracted employees will not be allowed into a VHA facility if they answer YES to the screening questions (see below) without a current negative COVID test (within 24 hours prior to the screening) and physician’s clearance. Anybody entering a facility will be required to enter designated entrances and confirm screening questions with a VHA staff member. People in non-patient care areas are required to wear a cloth face covering at a minimum; contracted employees should bring their own. People in patient care areas will be required to wear a medical mask (procedure mask or surgical mask); VHA facilities will provide these as needed. No contracted employees will be subjected to areas which require the use of a respirator (N95, PAPR). |
COVID19 Screening Questions Are you a VA employee or contractor?
In the past 24 hours, have you had a fever?
In the past 7 days, have you had a cough, shortness of breath, or difficulty breathing that's new or getting worse?
In the past 3 days, have you had any of these symptoms?
· Fever or feeling feverish (chills, sweating)
· Fatigue (feeling tired all the time)
· Muscle or body aches
· Headache
· New loss of smell or taste
· Sore throat
· Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea Do you currently have a runny nose or congestion that's new and not related to allergies?
Have you had contact with someone you know was diagnosed with COVID-19 or was waiting for COVID-19 test results that you haven't already reported to VA occupational health?
| 4.) | Under Statement of Work Section B.2, a visual verification of the continuity of accessible areas of at least 10 smoke barriers assemblies and 10 fire barrier assemblies in each building 100,000+ square feet is required. Is the intent that the continuity of smoke barriers and fire barriers needs to only be visually verified in 10 different accessible rooms? Or is the intent that 10 smoke barriers and 10 fire barriers within each applicable building will need to be visually verified along their entire length? Visually verified along the entire length which abuts or is within a healthcare, ambulatory care, or lodging occupancy. For example, if two firewalls surrounding a healthcare occupancy meet and one extends into a business occupancy then only the portion of the firewall which outlines the healthcare occupancy needs to be verified. Also see answer to question 2 above. Note – if a building doesn’t have five smoke barriers and/or five fire barriers then, of course, five will not be the minimum. |
| 5.) | Under Statement of Work Section B.3, all findings of deficiencies must be identified and recorded in a consistent and understandable format. There is no reference to photographs of said deficiencies. Are photographs required to be taken of each identified deficiency? Photos are not necessary, but the description and location of each deficiency must be easily understandable and unambiguous. The POCs at each facility can help with the respective medical facility’s location nomenclature. |
| 6.) | Under Statement of Work Section B.4, evaluation of existing fire protection feature drawings for accuracy and completeness is required. Can it be assumed that the existing backgrounds will be accurate such that no changes to the floor layout will be required and only fire protection features (e.g. wall ratings, smoke compartments, suites, etc.) will require updates? No. It is possible that building additions, building section demolitions, occupancy re-designations, and movement/demo/addition of walls have occurred since the most recent drawings updates. |
| 7.) | Under Statement of Work Section B.14, support for writing new equivalencies requests are required for deficiencies found during the life safety inspections. It is our understanding that equivalency requests are longer permitted to be submitted proactively and must be related to a citation during a regulatory survey. Is the intent that this support will occur for any deficiencies that may necessitate equivalencies after the completion of the Joint Commission surveys? I believe you are referring to the “old” PFI system (pre-2017) where a facility wasn’t cited by the TJC surveyor if the deficiency was listed as a PFI within their SOC. After 2017, TJC removed the PFI protection and instituted the current see-it-cite-it policy followed by a SPFI. I’m reasonably certain equivalencies can still be submitted if a facility identifies a Life Safety deficiency not associated with a survey. The most up-to-date TJC instruction for equivalencies states “Occasionally building owners discover building features or deficiencies that are not compliant with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Life Safety Code® (LSC)... The preferred course of action is to immediately correct the deficiency. However, in some instances, the corrective action may pose a hardship to the organization and not directly impact patient, staff, or visitor safety. Under these conditions, the organization may submit a request for an equivalency to The Joint Commission for review.” It goes on to mention that equivalencies can be submitted in response to a RFI as part of a SPFI, but I haven’t seen any information which states proactive equivalencies are no longer accepted. |
https://www.jointcommission.org/-/media/tjc/documents/resources/patient-safety-topics/physical-enviroment/life-safety-code/soc_equivalency_instructions_revised_5-20-2020.pdf The intent is for the contracted firm to support the facility in the writing, verification and submission of any equivalency requests based on qualifying Life Safety deficiencies discovered during or before the previously mentioned facility evaluations. It is not the intent for the contractor to return to the facility at a future date to support the equivalency process for deficiencies found after the contractor has completed the facility evaluations.
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