SSN - Erie Ice Melt - 36C24425Q0929 - SAM.pdf

Sources Sought Notice

*= Required Field Sources Sought Notice

SUBJECT* Bulk Road Salt and Bagged Ice Melt for Erie VAMC | 2025-2026 Winter Season

GENERAL INFORMATION

CONTRACTING OFFICE’S ZIP CODE* 18711

SOLICITATION NUMBER* 36C24425Q0929

RESPONSE DATE/TIME/ZONE 09-08-2025 12:00 EASTERN TIME, NEW YORK,

USA

ARCHIVE 60 DAYS AFTER THE RESPONSE DATE

RECOVERY ACT FUNDS N

SET-ASIDE

PRODUCT SERVICE CODE* 6810

NAICS CODE* 325998

CONTRACTING OFFICE ADDRESS Department of Veterans Affairs

Network Contracting Office 4

Wilkes-Barre VAMC

1111 East End Blvd

Wilkes-Barre, PA 19711

POINT OF CONTACT*

Contract Specialist

Olivia McDonald olivia.mcdonald@va.gov

PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

ADDRESS Erie, PA VA Medical Center

135 East 38th Street

Erie PA

POSTAL CODE 16504

COUNTRY USA

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

AGENCY’S URL

URL DESCRIPTION

AGENCY CONTACT’S EMAIL ADDRESS

EMAIL DESCRIPTION

DESCRIPTION

This is Not a Solicitation Announcement. This is a Request for Information Only.

This Request for Information (RFI) is intended for information and planning purposes only at this time; and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Since this is Request for Information announcement, no evaluation letters and/or results will be issued to respondents. No solicitation exists. Therefore, do not request a copy of a solicitation.

The Department of Veterans Affairs VISN 4, Network Contracting Office 4 (NCO 4), is seeking information and potential qualified/verified Businesses capable of meeting requirement and salient characteristics below to provide and deliver bulk road salt and bagged ice melt to the Erie, PA VA Medical Center (VAMC).

Statement of Need

Erie VAMC Bulk Road Salt and Bagged Ice Melt

GENERAL: The contractor shall provide and deliver bulk road salt and bagged ice melt to the Erie, PA VA Medical Center (VAMC). Specifically, the deliveries will be delivered to our Salt Building or other on-site location when notified via email or phone. The purpose is to melt snow and ice from asphalt and concrete lots and drives. The term of this order is for a period of one year and covers the winter season for calendar years 2025-2026.

1. BACKGROUND:

Storage Capacity: The Erie VAMC has limited storage capacity for bulk road salt and ice melt.

The maximum capacities are 40 ton of road salt and 16 pallets of bagged ice melt. In a severe lake effect weather event, these quantities could deplete in a single storm.

Usage: The Erie VAMC has an asphalt footprint of slightly over 12 acres. Salt usage is 1 ton per acre, given application three times daily (once each shift). In a 24-hour snowfall event, this equates to a usage of 36 tons of road salt. An additional 6 pallets of bagged ice melt would be used on sidewalks. The occurrence of a multi-day event would require that Erie VAMC be resupplied with both products within 24 hours.

2. SPECIFIC TASKS:

A. There will be no minimum seasonal quantity.

B. Replenishment orders are not expected to be placed by Erie VAMC after September 30th of each contract year.

C. Erie VAMC personnel shall be responsible for moving the product from the communicated drop location to the onsite storage location.

D. All cutsheets and Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) must be submitted to Project Manager for evaluation with bid submittal. Substitute chemical compositions may be submitted to Project Manager for evaluation of suitability for this contract.

E. Roads or other foreign material shall be absent from the delivered product.

Presence of material other than road salt shall be cause for delivery rejection.

F. Product shall be compatible with dispersion using hand, drop and broadcast spreading, without the need for personal protection equipment.

G. Product shall be colored to visually ensure proper dispersion of the solid product, but the product shall not be permanently staining to pavement.

H. The bidder must bid on both products, but the bid for each product shall be separated. The bidder shall communicate which product the bid will cover.

I. All deliveries of bulk salt shall be invoiced in whole-ton increments only. The total delivery quantity shall be rounded to the nearest whole number (e.g., 9.86 tons shall be invoiced as 10 tons; 9.43 tons shall be invoiced as 9 tons). No decimals shall appear on invoices submitted for payment.

3A. Product Supply:

The contractor shall provide and deliver the following estimated seasonal product totals:

Description Qty

Bulk Road Salt (per whole ton) 200 Tons

Ice Melt (per pallet) 24 Pallets

3B. BULK ROAD SALT

a. Specifications:

• The acceptable product shall have a minimum composition of 98% Sodium Chloride and treated with Yellow Prussiate of Soda (YPS) or similar anticaking compound.

• Salt product shall be in pellet form. Flake product will not be accepted.

• Individual pellet size shall be between 1/4” and 5/8” in diameter.

• Product shall be colored to visually ensure proper dispersion of the solid product, but the product shall not be permanently staining to pavement.

• Product shall arrive in a free flowing, dry, and usable condition. Product must not be frozen, caked, wet, or clumped. Product shall be completely free of any foreign debris.

Product delivered that is not in conformance to this specification shall be cause for delivery rejection.

• Salt product shall contain no more than 1% water.

b. Maximum seasonal quantity is not expected to exceed 250 tons.

c. At all times, the contractor shall be prepared to deliver Erie VA Medical Center with bulk road salt within 24 hours of Program Manager notification of need.

d. Contractor shall replenish supplies within one week of order.

e. Minimum quantity shall be 5 tons, and maximum quantity shall be 25 tons per delivery.

f. Rejection of a delivery due to nonconformance to the specifics of this Statement of Need shall be followed by a delivery within 24 hours of product that meets the specification criteria at no additional cost to the government. The Contractor is responsible for the cost of removing rejected shipments from the Erie, PA VAMC property.

3C. BAGGED ICE MELT

a. Specifications:

• Composition shall be Calcium Chloride with Calcium Magnesium Acetate (CMA) a built-in corrosion inhibitor.

• Product shall be able to melt ice down to an ambient temperature of at least -25oF.

• Product shall be fast acting.

• Product shall be in pellet or granular form. Flake product will not be acceptable.

• Product shall be safe for use on concrete, asphalt, and vegetation.

• Product shall be colored to visually ensure proper dispersion of the solid product, but the product shall not be permanently staining to pavement.

• Containment bags holding the ice melt shall be weatherproof and waterproof.

• Product inside bags shall be dry and not clumped, and immediately usable for specified purposes.

b. Maximum seasonal quantity is not expected to exceed quantity two thousand bags at 50 pounds each.

c. Ice melt shall be delivered on pallets with each pallet weight not to exceed 2500 pounds (Quantity of fifty bags weighing 50 pounds each).

d. Minimum quantity to deliver shall be four pallets (two hundred 50-pound bags) and a maximum of eight pallets (four hundred 50-pound bags).

e. Pallets shall be placed or moved in the delivery vehicle by the contractor or subcontractor/driver and shall be unloaded by fork-lift without a loading dock by the Government.

f. Rejection of a delivery due to nonconformance to the specifics of this Statement of Need shall be followed by a delivery within 24 hours of product that meets the specification criteria at no additional cost to the government. The Contractor is responsible for the cost of removing rejected shipments from the Erie, PA VAMC property.

4. DELIVERY:

A. Contractor shall deliver bulk road salt and bagged ice melt on an as needed basis to the Erie, PA VAMC Salt Building at 135 E. 38th St, Erie, PA or to a similar location on the Erie, PA VAMC main campus as directed by the Program Manager. Area of delivery will be easily accessible by the delivery truck.

B. Contractor shall replenish supplies within 24 hours of order.

C. Deliveries shall be made Monday-Friday between the hours 7 AM and 4 PM, excluding federal holidays. Deliveries outside of the stated hours shall be only made by mutual consent between the contractor and Project Manager.

D. Contractor assumes responsibility for safe and legal transport of the product to Erie, PA VAMC.

E. Contractor acknowledges that deliveries will be expected during adverse winter weather conditions. Contractor also acknowledges that if the product can be legally procured and acceptable roads are open for transport (interstate highways and local roads to and from the interstate highway), there shall be no allowance for delay due to weather.

F. Contractor shall provide weigh slips to Erie, PA VAMC at the time of delivery, which lists the amount of salt delivered.

5. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

Erie, PA VA Medical Center 135 East 38th Street Erie, PA 16504

6. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

2025-2026 Winter Season.

Responses to this RFI should include company name, address, point of contact, phone number, and point of contact e-mail, UEI Number, Cage Code, size of business pursuant to North American Industry Classification code (NAICS) 325998, All Other Miscellaneous Chemical Product and Preparation Manufacturimg.

Please answer the following questions:

(1) Please indicate the size status and representations of your business in accordance with the NAICS code 333413, such as but not limited to: Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB), Hubzone, Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB), Large Business, etc.)

(2) Is the required equipment available on a Federal Supply Schedule or Government Wide Acquisition Contract? If so, please include the schedule number.

(3) Are you the manufacturer, distributor, or an equivalent solution to the items being Referenced above?

(4) If your company is a large business, do you have any authorized small business distributors? If so, please provide their company name, telephone, point of Contact and size status (if available).

(5) If your company is a small business and you are an authorized distributor/reseller for the items identified above or an equivalent solution, do you alter; assemble; modify; the items requested in any way? If you do, state how and what is altered; assembled;

modified?

(6) Is the item you are supplying made or manufactured in America? This is to ensure compliance with FAR 52.225-1 Buy American-Supplies.

(7) If you intend to subcontract any work on this contract, what portion of the total cost will be self-performed/will be performed by your organization? Please provide estimated detailed percentage breakdowns related to sub contracted work and completion of job.

(8) General pricing of your products/solution is encouraged. Pricing will be used for the purpose of market research only. It will not be used to evaluate for any type of award.

(9) Please submit your capabilities in regard to the salient characteristics detailed above and any information pertaining to “equal to items” to establish capabilities for planning purposes?

(10) Please review salient characteristics/statement of work (if applicable) and provide feedback or suggestions. If none, please reply as N/A.

(11) Please provide your UEI number.

*** Submissions addressing number (10) should show clear, compelling and convincing*** evidence that all “equal to items" meet all the salient characteristics.

This RFI will be conducted in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13. Telephone responses will not be accepted.

Responses must be received via email to Contract Specialist Olivia McDonald at olivia.mcdonald@va.gov no later than 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time on September 8, 2025.

This notice will help the VA in determining available potential sources only. Do not contact VA Medical Center staff regarding this requirement, as they are not authorized to discuss this matter related to this procurement action.

All firms responding to this Request for Information are advised that their response is not a request for proposal, therefore will not be considered for a contract award.

If a solicitation is issued, information will be posted on SAM.gov for all qualified interested parties at a later date and interested parties must respond to the solicitation to be considered for award. This notice does not commit the government to contract for any supplies or services. The government will not pay for any information or administrative cost incurred in response to this Request for Information. Information will only be accepted in writing via email.

DISCLAIMER

This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation. All information received in response to this RFI that is marked as proprietary will be handled accordingly. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI.

End of Document