Attachment A - Air Balance QA 09-24-2024.pdf

Questions and Answers Resulting from 36C24424Q0961 Updated 09/24/2024

1) After reviewing the solicitation documents, we could not find a defined period of performance (base year and option years).

Page 2 of the Combined Synopsis/Solicitation Notice states that the period of performance in the attached schedule is an estimate. The Price/Cost Schedule is found in Section B.3 of the Solicitation document, and the Period of Performance estimated begin and end are noted as POP Begin and POP End respectively.

As stated in Section E.6, the Government is contemplating award of a Firm-Fixed-Price, Indefinite Quantity contract resulting from this solicitation. This is further reflected by the clauses at Section C.2, C.3, and C.4 of the solicitation. See below for a brief overview of the contract type and ordering process.

Contract Type:

The contract will be a single award Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with fixed price task orders to provide the services required. The IDIQ will be established for a five-year period. Task orders may vary in size and will be issued and awarded by the Contracting Officer. Total dollar amount of the task orders in any one-year period is not to exceed $ Determined at award. A minimum total contract order guarantee of $2,500.00 is set for this contract. The total value of all task orders is not expected to exceed $ Determined at award in a 60-month period and is the estimated total contract maximum for this requirement.

Price shall be determined by submitted rates for line items in offers submitted to the VA Contracting Officer. Each task order shall use this line-item schedule and the quantities to be completed for the project as the basis for the task order.

Task Order Process Steps and Timeline

1. After the IDIQ contract is established, the VA will identify a need for services and inform the Contract Officer of the need to place a task order.

2. The Contract Officer will create and issue the task order to the Contractor. The task order will include the line items, quantities, and associated pricing. All pricing shall be determined directly from the Base IDIQ contract Pricing Schedule, less any applicable discounts. The task order will also include the location of the work, and an effective start and ending dates for the period of performance.

a. Note that the quantities of services specified in the schedule are estimates only and are not purchased by the IDIQ contract. Any resulting task orders are the funded actions which authorize services to be performed. No services can be performed without an active task order in place. See the clause at FAR 52.216-22 (Section C.4 of the solicitation) for additional information.

2) Is there an organized site visit scheduled other than the "Initial Site Review"?

There will be no site visit before award of the contract. The Initial Site Review is intended for the awardee to become familiar with the equipment, environment, and procedures of the Philadelphia VAMC.

3) Is there an engineering specification or previous Balance Report available as a guideline to the system requirements? In order to accurately bid the project, knowing the rated air flow, number of registers per air handler and other applicable information would be helpful in supplying an accurate quote.

Rooms listed in solicitation provide a guideline on the frequency, whether the rooms listed need to be Positive or Negative. Knowing the rated airflow, number of registers per air handler, should not affect an “Accurate Bid”. Once contract is awarded a spreadsheet will be provided to awardee for specific air balancing requirements for each space/Room, area, or corridor.

A sample Air Flow Report is attached (Attachment A) which relates to the reports outlined in Section 5.2 of the Statement of Work. The locations and values of this report are examples only and should not be used to determine actual requirements. Section 6 of the Statement of Work contains an accurate list of locations requiring air balancing services.

4) Is this a brand new contract OR if there is (was) an incumbent performing these services. If not brand new, could you please provide the current / previous contract number?

Page 3 of the Combined Synopsis/Solicitation Notice states no questions regarding the current/past contract will be answered. Those questions shall be addressed to the appropriate FOIA office.

Home - Freedom of Information Act (va.gov)

5) Could you provide the previous contract number for this solicitation? Also, could you provide an previous inspection report?

Page 3 of the Combined Synopsis/Solicitation Notice states no questions regarding the current/past contract will be answered. Those questions shall be addressed to the appropriate FOIA office.

Home - Freedom of Information Act (va.gov)

A sample Air Flow Report is attached (Attachment A) which relates to the reports outlined in Section 5.2 of the Statement of Work. The locations and values of this report https://department.va.gov/foia/ https://department.va.gov/foia/ are examples only and should not be used to determine actual requirements. Section 6 of the Statement of Work contains an accurate list of locations requiring air balancing services.

6) Is the contractor required to have NEBB certification or is another nationally recognized certification sufficient?

The NEBB (National Environmental Balancing Bureau) certification is required per Section 4.5 of the Statement of Work, and is referenced in Section 5, Reports. This certification is required as part of the technical submittals in accordance with Section C.3 of the quote submission instructions in the Combined Synopsis/Solicitation Notice.

No other certification will satisfy this requirement or be used as a substitution.

7) Are there any HVAC systems larger than 25 ton capacity?

There are no single air handlers larger than 25 Tons capacity.