S02_Amendment 00002.pdf

** AMENDMENT A00002 – Lock Out Tag Out – Addition of Line item number 0035, Updated Performance Work Statement, Contractor Questions and Government Responses and solicitation due date update **

Please confirm receipt of all Solicitation Amendments in your solicitation submission package

Line Item addition

ITEM

NUMBER

DESCRIPTION OF

SUPPLIES/SERVICE

QUANTITY UNIT UNIT PRICE AMOUNT

11.00(facilities) EA __________________ __________________ Provide lockout devices, padlocks, and lockout tags per amounts specified in PWS

Contractor Questions and Government Responses

1. Please provide an specific equipment inventory (with location) to be surveyed. One item may be a simple fan that takes 30 minutes versus a boiler or AHU which may take all day. Type of equipment is needed for the contractor to determine 1) price and 2) the manpower necessary to meet the 45 procedures/day requirement.

Answer: As stated in Amendment 00001 equipment inventories accuracy can vary between 25% to 90% depending on the facility and cannot be a basis for project planning. To varying degrees, all facilities will have typical equipment found on older healthcare campuses consisting of a hospital, medical clinics and nursing homes which have had various levels of rehab over the past 50 years. There are exceptions such as (but not limited to): a biomass boiler on the Maine campus installed about 10 years ago.

2. The quantity of procedures versus the number of buildings and square footage appears substantially low. Please provide a quantity of procedures broken down by building number for each location. Contractors could drive across campus to do 1 procedure at one building and repeat multiple times.

Answer: This information is widely not known per facility and will be discovered during the inventory phase of the project.

3. Paragraph 4.H.4 states The government shall have 10 business days after receipt to inspect and review each draft document and inspect physical sample.

a. Does this mean the government will have 10 days to review each procedure that is created, prior to final delivery? Or does this mean the government will have 10 days to review a Sample Template of the procedure and Samples of the isolation point tags prior to project start?

Answer: Please see the table in attachment 3 for specifics.

4. The VA has given itself 10 days to review and approve procedures which causes 2 mobilizations for each device. Can the VA reduce this to 24 hours so procedures can be hung the next day? This will significantly reduce cost.

Answer: No. Due to the dynamic nature of Maintenance and Repair Operations (MRO) at complex medical facilities, we cannot be certain that the employees needed to review the submittals will be available on any certain day.

5. The period of performance seems very aggressive, even with working with multiple teams. What is meant by “Conclusion of each site survey + 30 days”? Is the intent to have 1) all procedures for all sites written in 30 days?, 2) have each site done in 30 days, or 3) have paperwork for each site submitted in 30 days but the actual survey takes what it takes? What is the overall PoP for the whole project after NTP?

Answer: The intent is to provide draft procedures to the respective facility within 30 days of completion of the on‐site inventory & info gathering work at that facility.

It is desired that the on‐site team can inventory and gather enough information for 45 written procedures per day. In other words, the on‐site period would be 45 times the Max Number of Discrete LOTO Procedures listed in the table in attachment 1.

Example, the table states that Manchester will have 450 discrete procedures, so the contracted firm should plan for 10 days on site if they sent one person, or 5 if they sent two people, etc. The intent is to minimize the burden on the facility staffing.

PoP is one year (365 days) from contract award.

6. How quickly can the COR answer whether procedures should be done for equipment not on the list. Extended response time will result in additional trips to the same areas / equipment.

Answer: Our interpretation of this question is as follows: How quickly can the COR answer whether additional facility procedures beyond the Max Number of Discrete LOTO Procedures as outlined in the PWS (attachment 1) be approved.

The COR will provide a response as soon as possible however an exact time cannot be determined. Any contract alteration to include the addition of procedures will need to be reviewed by the COR and a contract modification be authorized by the Contracting Officer.

7. Will there be a single COR or a COR for each site?

Answer: There will be one COR for the overall project and a technical coordinator at each facility.

8. What is meant by “group lockouts” and “storage stations”? Is this referring to group lockout boxes and possibly wall stations?

Answer: This link (https://www.grainger.com/category/safety/lockout‐ tagout/lockout‐hasps?attrs=Lockout+Hasp+Style%7CStandard&filters=attrs) demonstrates the general type of group lockout (hasps). This link (https://www.grainger.com/category/safety/lockout‐tagout/lockout‐stations‐and‐ kits/lockout‐centers‐and‐stations?categoryIndex=1) is a general example of storage stations.

9. What specifically is meant by “program auditing capability”? What functionality are you looking for?

Answer: An ability for the Safety Office to demonstrate program compliance to a 3rd party auditor or inspector. This compliance includes (but not limited to) a list of all employees involved with LOTO and completion of their required training, the inventory, annual procedure verifications, a list of authorized employees and completion of their competency checks.

10. Can the VA support work at multiple sites simultaneously or does it prefer one site at a time?

Answer: Yes. Each site will have their own technical coordinator. To ensure the COR can maintain oversight, we request that the contracted firm is not at more than four sites at a time.

11. Will the VA allow for weekend work if VA escorts are not required?

Answer: No, do not plan on working during weekends or federal holidays.

Contractor’s employees must be escorted by a designated VA employee. There are no foreseeable scenarios within this project where an escort is not needed.

12. Is the site training to be a single session or AM and PM sessions to cover 2 shifts?

Answer: This will change on the PWS. The requirement will state up to 3‐days of training. Please note that the requested training is broken down into different audiences: general LOTO training, program management, and train‐the‐trainer.

13. What is the VA’s COVID restrictions? Is the VA following their State’s COVID restriction protocols only? Or does the VA have their own, internal COVID protocols that may be more restrictive and contain quarantining requirements?

Answer: See Performance Work Statement Section L (Special Precautions for COVID‐ 19)

“Members of the contracted survey team shall be required to meet each facility’s precautionary requirements prior to entering. Requirements may include, but are not limited to, COVID testing, quarantine, vaccination, daily screening questionnaires, and wearing of face coverings. As the COVID‐19 emergency continues to evolve, requirements for accessing VA healthcare facilities are expected to change. There is no reasonable method to predict future changes to requirements and therefore the contractor shall contact each facility prior to arrival to determine the current COVID protocols. If contracted employees are traveling from another State, it is strongly advised to verify the State’s travel requirements regarding COVID precautions such as testing and quarantine.”

14. Paragraph 4.C.1 and 2 state that the vendor must create and list all pieces of equipment on an electronic inventory to include manufacturer, model, series, serial number etc.

a. This information is usually provided on the client provided asset list. If this list does not already exist, is the vendor responsible for creating, from scratch, a new inventory list that contains all the referenced data above?

Answer: Yes, the vendor shall create an inventory with all of the required information as identified in section 4.C.

15. Paragraph 4.D.3.b states that the procedure must contain a list of all PPE an authorized employee is required to don as part of the test‐before‐touch step of the lockout procedure.

a. This is not a requirement of the OSHA 1910.147 standard and is also not advisable since different operational circumstances would require different levels of PPE. Can the PPE listing be removed from the requirements of the procedure template?

Answer: This requirement will be removed from the PWS. (See attached Updated

PWS)

16. Paragraph 4.G.4 states Training shall consist of one day at each campus.

a. But in the paragraphs above, the client is requesting training for up to 50

Authorized Employees and a Train the Trainer session for identified supervision.

b. Authorized training is approximately 3 hours in length and should have no more than 25 participants per session. Train the Trainer is approximately 8 hours in length. These training sessions would take at least 2 days and more realistically 3 to 4 days because of shift schedules etc.

c. Should the quote for training be only 1 day? Or should it be shifted to at least 2 or 3 days to realistically meet the requirements of the scope of work?

Answer: This requirement will change on the PWS. Up to 3 days of training per facility based on two general LOTO trainings, two program managers’ training, and one TTT.

17. Paragraph I(2) states: “If proposed programs, apps, and other IT‐related systems or hardware have not been previously approved by VA OIT then alternative solutions must be provided in the contract quote submission in order to remain viable and competitive.”

a. Question: Can you give an example as “alternative” solutions?

b. Can you provide IT requirements for software connectivity?

Answer: a) Any system which does not require connection to the VA network, doesn’t require additional costs or subscriptions, and doesn’t require equipment other than what is currently considered normally available. An example of normally available is a smart phone.

b) IT requirements are complex and will probably take longer than the period of performance to get approved.

18. I. Information Security: At no time will the contracted firm or their employees have access to or connect any devices to the VA information network. Sensitive information shall not be recorded, obtained, or otherwise released by the contracted firm or their employees without express written consent of the Contracting Officer

a. Question: Is any WIFI available while our technicians are on‐site?

Answer: Some facilities have full guest Wi‐Fi, and some have limited guest Wi‐Fi, meaning a few hotspots around the facility and usually to accommodate inpatients.

19. Paragraph I(4): “The LOTO management method, app, program, cloud, etc. shall not have any future fees for use or costs for updates; use shall be unrestricted for all VISN 1 employees.

a. Is the expectation to have access to our editing and auditing software indefinitely?

b. All software solutions are subscription based, would a 3‐ 5‐year agreement as an alternative solution work?

c. There are alternative solutions that are not software based to sustain compliance with editing procedures and auditing…is this acceptable?

Answer:

a. Yes

b. No

c. Specifics would need to be submitted for determination

20. The original solicitation requires mounted LOTO procedures to last for 5 years but first Q&A document issued on 16 April requires them to last for 3 years. Please clarify the requirement.

Answer: The expectation is 5 years as identified by the PWS. The mention of 3 years was a typographical error.

21. Confirm that MS Office‐friendly format documents that can be uploaded to the network/cloud location of the VA’s choosing by VA staff after delivery is acceptable?

Answer: Yes. If MS Office is to be used then Word and Excel are the preferred formats.

22. PWS Section 4.G(1)(b) references NFPA 70E. Please confirm that VISN 1 is not also looking for formal arc flash evaluations.

Answer: Arc flash evaluations are not within the scope of this project.

23. PWS 4.C. Inventory: Please confirm that equipment maintained exclusively by outside contractors such as specialized medical equipment is not included and procedures should not be attached to this equipment. If this equipment is to be included will manufacturer’s instructions and other specifications be provided?

Answer: Correct, equipment maintained exclusively by outside contractors such as specialized medical equipment is not within the scope of this project.

24. PWS 4.K(c): Please confirm that LOTO training provided to VA and other clients would be considered acceptable in addition to accredited institutions. After seeking vendor clarification the vendor would like to know if the VA will accept 5 or more years of training at VAMC’s and or other client sites acceptable in addition to accredited institutions.

Answer: I assume this question refers to 5.K(c), “Five or more years of documented experience instructing safety courses based on NFPA 70E and/or LOTO portions of 29 CFR 1910 and 1926 for accredited institutions.” This falls under 5.K(f), “Documented experience, training, or certifications which demonstrate equivalent levels of professionalism and aptitude.” The intent of 5.K is to ensure the contractor’s employees assigned to this project have an expert level of applied LOTO knowledge as well as OSHA regulations.

25. PWS Attachment 3 Deliverables Schedule: 30 days post site visit is extremely tight to develop up to 450 detailed procedures. Would VISN 1 consider 45 – 60 days for submittal of draft procedures?

Answer: Yes. The PWS will be changed to 45‐days for draft procedures submittal.

26. Can the VA disclose any known system requirement of which it is aware to inform of potential compatibility concerns with Offerors‐provided LOTO management system?

Answer: unable to provide an accurate response to this question.

Solicitation Due date has been updated:

From:

(xv) RFQ responses are due 07‐May‐2021 at 11:00 AM EST. RFQ responses must be submitted via email to: Joshua.Gallien@va.gov. Hand deliveries shall not be accepted.

To:

(xv) RFQ responses are due 14‐May‐2021 at 1:00 PM EST. RFQ responses must be submitted via email to: Joshua.Gallien@va.gov. Hand deliveries shall not be accepted.