36C24818Q0326-00001000.docx

5. PROJECT NUMBER (if applicable)

CODE

7. ADMINISTERED BY

2.

AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NUMBER

CODE

6. ISSUED BY

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR

4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NUMBER

3. EFFECTIVE DATE

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NUMBER

9B. DATED

PAGE

OF PAGES

10A. MODIFICATION OF

CONTRACT/ORDER NUMBER

10B. DATED

BPA NO.

1. CONTRACT ID CODE

FACILITY CODE

CODE

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended, by one of the following methods:

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers

E. IMPORTANT:

is extended,

(a) By completing Items 8 and 15, and returning __1 ________ copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted; or (c) By separate letter or electronic communication which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY is not extended.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA

(REV.

11/2016) is required to sign this document and return ___________ copies to the issuing office.

is not, A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO:

Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT ORDER NO. IN ITE M 10A.

15C. DATE SIGNED

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES

SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR

43.103(b).

RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment you desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by letter or electronic communication, provided each letter or electronic communication makes r eference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS

ENTERED INTO

PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER

BY

Contractor

16C. DATE SIGNED

14.

DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION

16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

15A. NAME

AND TITLE OF SIGNER

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER

15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR

STANDARD FORM 30

PREVIOUS EDITION NOT USABLE

Prescribed by GSA - FAR (48 CFR) 53.243 (Type or print) (Type or print) (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

(Number, street, county, State and ZIP Code) (If other than Item 6) (Specify type of modification and authority) (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc.)

(If required)

(SEE ITEM 11)

(SEE ITEM 13)

(X)

CHECK

ONE

13. THIS ITEM APPLIES ONLY TO MODIFICATIONS OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS,

IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS

OF SOLICITATIONS

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT

(Signature of person authorized to sign) (Signature of Contracting Officer) 00001 672-18-1-1071-0116

NONE

00672 Department of Veterans Affairs VA Caribbean Healthcare System Administrative Building #10 Calle Casia Suite #4M440 San Juan PR 00921-3201 00672 Department of Veterans Affairs VA Caribbean Healthcare System Administrative Building #10 Calle Casia Suite #4M440 San Juan PR 00921-3201 To all Offerors/Bidders

36C24818Q0326

X X X X

ONE-1

Postal Address Verification Services at VA Caribbean Healthcare System, San Juan, PR

1. This Amendment 00001 is hereby issued to publish all questions submitted by interested offerors on solicitation issued on February 13, 2018, and due today, February 23, 2018.

2. Please acknowledge amendment with your offer submittal.

America Quinones-Gonzalez, MA Contracting Officer

NCO815L2-1440

CONTINUATION PAGE

Postal Address Verification Services - Questions and Answers:

Does the SOW requires a physical verification of the address?

No physical verification, please refer to PWS for specific details on how to comply with the task. However, some manual address correction may be required.

Is not only to properly modify the format to comply with the USPS rules?

And no, the addresses must be validated as correct for each of the patients’ addresses, and the format follows the CASS Certification (Coding Accuracy Support Systems).

We were trying to gather if the postal verification services requested were to be done in person/physical verification or simply through the use of digital sources? T

The company must have the CASS Certification (Coding Accuracy Support Systems) used for address correction services in Puerto Rico, including Vieques, Culebra, and U.S. Virgin Islands. For additional information, please refer to Performance Work Statement in the solicitation. Services shall be provided out of the US Government Facility, and brought in digital media pre-approved by the Security Officers, and Information Technology (IT) at the VA Caribbean Healthcare System, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

I am also trying to understand if this is a one time annual contract or if it's a yearly renewal contract?

It will be a one-time job.

Also I'm trying to understand if it's the verification of address within a certain metropolitan area or the entirety of Puerto Rico.

Addresses for the entire Island including Vieques, Culebra (Puerto Rico), and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

How many personnel would you prefer conducting the work?

This is a performance-based acquisition. The Government will not tell you how many employees or how to do the work. The offeror is responsible in having the final product, as per contract terms and conditions in full compliance with the specifications on the Performance Work Statement.

How to address the pass through cost such as; housing, transportation etc.?

If you mean your indirect costs in performing these tasks; it is for the company to prepare their own breakdowns, and submit the final offer to the Government taking into consideration all expenses related to the performance of these tasks up to satisfactorily completion.

I am hoping to find out if there is an incumbent contractor currently performing these services or if this is a new requirement. If there is an incumbent, could you please provide the contract number?

This is a new contract on these services, no incumbent contractor.

Page 6, point number 2.1 states that "Provide postal address verification and validation with CASS Certification". Does the services can be provided with the USA CASS certification or the Puerto Rico CASS certification? The Puerto Rico CASS certification is based with only Puerto Rican addresses.

It must be Puerto Rico CASS certification; the services will be required for the Island of Puerto Rico; including Vieques and Culebra.

Page 10, point number 9 from the Performance Work Statement states that "the contractor shall be certified as Coding Accuracy Support System". Does this mean that the company that is bidding should be certified by the USPS with CASS certification under the company name or it can provide the service using a CASS certified software?

Below on 9c. is clarified that: Use only CASS certified software to standardize any “preferred” or “acceptable” city for the five-digit ZIP code.

Page 18, B.5 Schedule of Services on item 001. The automatic and manual correction services should be quoted each service on its own or both services together?

Either way the offeror prefers, however, the last price for Item 001 must include both tasks/requirements priced.

Can VA provide a scientific sample of 10,000 address records in order to analyze the quality of the addresses of this file? This will permit to be more precise on the amount of work done in the automatic and manual correction process therefore providing a better price for VA.

Unless we consult the Privacy Officer and get her approval we cannot provide the sample as there is no existing contract nor a Memorandum of Understanding.

Can VA provide the analysis of return mail study? We are trying to have a better understanding of the quality of the addresses before we submit our bid.

VA has not conducted a trusted detail study.

Section “B.5 SCHEDULE OF SERVICES” reads that contractor should correct up to 90,000n records and provide a price for “Automatic correction & National Change of Address (NCOA) per record.” The US Postal Service requires CASS processing of address lists every 6 months to keep data updated and address hygiene is critical in trusting any sort of “automatic correction.” How many times has this file been validated with CASS software in the last 3 years? Do data entry personnel verify and standardize new addresses according to US Postal Services standards?

No contract in place, no validation with CASS in the last years had been done. The data entry personnel at the VA Facility not necessarily complies with US Postal Services standards; they don’t have the expertise to do so.

Under “E.4 52.212-2 EVALUATION—COMMERCIAL ITEMS (OCT 2014)”, reads “i. Offeror shall have staffing with CASS Certification (Coding Accuracy Support Systems) – Evidence of this shall be submitted with offer/quotation.” The USPS evaluates the accuracy of software that performs address matching with a certification program Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS). For years, mailers used commercially available address matching software developed for the Continental US for Puerto Rican addresses. However, the complexities of Puerto Rican style addresses produced unacceptable levels of miscoding and false positives wand the USPS created a CASS certification specifically for the Region of Puerto Rico. Will additional consideration be provided for companies that have technology certified specifically for Puerto Rican addresses under the CASS Regional Certification for Puero Rico?

Evaluation will be done as a comparative one, as per FAR Part 13. As per evaluation team, the answer is No; as this Certification has been proven to be successful more than 95%.

Under “E.4 52.212-2 EVALUATION—COMMERCIAL ITEMS (OCT 2014)”, reads “ii. The Address Specialist must be highly qualified and trained in compliance with US Postal Service requirements. Resumes on staff to be assigned for this job must be submitted with offer/quotation”. What percentage of addresses on the file are from Puerto Rico? Will additional consideration will be given for staffing with local experience in Puerto Rican styles addresses?

More than 95% of the addresses are from Puerto Rico, the rest are from U.S. and British Virgin Islands. Address Specialist must be able to validate address in accordance with US Postal Service regardless of experience with Puerto Rican styles addresses.

Under “B.4 PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT,” section “9. Address verification and validation of current patient's postal address” reads “D. Completion: Validation for complete address format. This means that is must have a street, city, state and ZIP code.” Federal regulations outlined by the US Postal Service in Publication 28, “Postal Addressing Standards” (https://pe.usps.com/text/pub28/) specify that addresses in Puerto Rico must use a three-line address that include the “urbanization name.” “Urbanizations” are sectors or residential developments that may be required to correctly identify a particular address. Some municipalities can have 20 or 30 streets with the same street name and, in many cases, within the same ZIP Code. Correctly matching to the “urbanization” is critical to correctly identify those particular addresses. Are urbanization and street names on separate fields? If they are, do you have a specific field only for “urbanizations”? Are some urbanization names mixed with the delivery information, requiring more complex parsing of elements before running the file with CASS certified software?

No specific fields are designated for “urbanizations”. There are cases were the “urbanization” address is used as mailing address requiring to meet specific requirements detailed in Publication 28 of the U.S Postal Service.