36C25924Q0838 - Questions and Answers.pdf

36C25924Q0838 Questions and Answers

1. CLIN CLARIFICATION:

CLIN 0010 in the provided List of Items includes the requirement for “OXYGEN, SIZE E ALUMINUM, VIPR W/ WALK-O2-BOUT REGULATOR,” but please note that the line item includes (2) different gases, seemingly in error, so I’m referring to the highlighted requirement as depicted below:

The required item is a contractor-owned cylinder, but a rental CLIN has not been provided for the “Walk-O2-Bout.” Please correct CLIN 0010 to show only the Oxygen cylinder and include a monthly rental CLIN so that offerors can appropriately price the requirement.

CLIN 0019 includes the requirement for 20-liter Liquid Nitrogen dewar fills but no additional

CLINs have been provided for other dewar sizes. As the current contract holder, we confirmed that the VAMC Grand Junction regularly orders both 10-liter and 20-liter dewar fills.

Please include a CLIN for 10-liter dewar fills as well as a CLIN for offerors to price the monthly rental charges for a 10-liter dewar (10-liter dewar is not listed as a GFE cylinder on PG 2 of 5 in the SOW).

Answer: Yes, a CLIN has been added for 10-liter dewar fills.

2. CYLINDER HOOK UP TO MANIFOLDS: PG 3 of 5 in the SOW states that “The contractor at no additional cost shall, also perform attaching of oxygen cylinders to manifold systems, when required.”

Because this service is highly nonstandard and vendors cannot perform this function due to liability reasons (damaging manifold or entering facility and possibly interacting with patients), will the GOV please remove this language? If not, will the GOV add a CLIN for this and be willing to sign a release of liability for the offeror to provide this service function? Standard industry practice is delivering to centralized delivery point (e.g., loading dock), and the distribution/hook-up of cylinders within the facility is the responsibility of GOV personnel. Vendors cannot be liable for the hook-up of cylinders to any GFE manifolds/appurtenances due to liability such as possible risk of damaging GFE equipment, and because drivers are not certified for this type of service. This function should only be performed by VA personnel who are more familiar with and properly trained on the systems unique to the Grand Junction VAMC.

Answer: The statement “The contractor at no additional cost shall, also perform attaching of oxygen cylinders to manifold systems, when required.” is hereby removed from the Statement of Work.

3. GOVERNMENT-OWNED CYLINDERS: PGs 2-3 of 5 in the SOW provide a breakdown of the government-owned cylinders for this requirement, including (150) Oxygen E cylinders and (2) 20-liter Liquid Nitrogen dewars. The section goes on to say, “Oxygen, Size E cylinders can be traded out for contractor owned cylinders as long as ownership of 150 cylinders stays with the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) Medical Center. The 150 size E Oxygen cylinders in the DVA’s possession at the end of the contract will not have any vendor identification markings on them. All other cylinders will be filled and returned to the DVA.”

Please note that while the section states that the GFE cylinders “can be traded out for contractor-owned cylinders as long as ownership of 150 cylinders stays with the DVA,” this is not possible. Contractor-owned cylinders cannot become GFE cylinders because they are on site at the facility. The VA cannot claim ownership of contractor-owned cylinders if/when the supplemental cylinders are delivered in addition to any GFEs. Request removal or revision of this language as it is not possible.

Please confirm how many GFE Oxygen E cylinders the GOV has on its property books in order to maintain an on-hand amount of 150? As the incumbent, we are familiar with the historical requirements of the facility. At the beginning of the existing contract, the VA required (40) Oxygen cylinders to be exchanged weekly. If this is still the case where the GOV requires (40) exchanged weekly, the GOV may need to purchase additional GFE cylinders to maintain 150 on site at all times because the VA will only be able to keep (110) on hand if

(40) GFE cylinders are being exchanged each week. Contractor-owned cylinders can be used to supplement in the event GFE cylinders are due for retest (thus taken out of circulation), as needed, but the VA would be required to pay rental on those supplemental contractor-owned cylinders and would not be able to assume ownership in order to keep (150) on site at all times.

Answer: One for one for rental and one for one GFE, these are not interchangeable. GFE are marked with

VA.

4. BULK OXYGEN DELIVERY PROCEDURES: PG 5 of 5 in the SOW states that “Prices for items ordered in

Bulk cover delivery into storage vessels at destination. Demurrage charges on contractor’s delivery truck are as follows: Free unloading time is 2 hours: $7.50 per quarter hour after free time expires.

Unloading time shall be computed from the time the contractor’s truck arrives at the entrance of the Government installation until delivery into storage vessel(s) is completed. Any delays caused by the defective Contractor-owned equipment or improper unloading procedure shall be added to the free unloading time.” Please clarify what this means for offerors. Is the GOV saying that deliveries need to be completed within (2) hours after the delivery truck arrives on site to not incur the $7.50 per quarter hour fee? Or is the GOV saying that there is a specific 2-hour window that the delivery must be made within (e.g., 8-10AM) and if the delivery occurs later than that timeframe, the Contractor will be charged per quarter hour after the delivery time? This is a highly nonstandard practice to charge Contractors for timed deliveries. Please clarify.

Answer: The vendor has two hours once on site to deliver the bulk o2.

5. LICENSING REQUIREMENTS: What specifically are the submission licensing requirements for the

Prime Contractor/Offeror? There is no mention of licensing requirements in the SOW or Solicitation, yet FAR 52.212-4 is included on PG 7 of 10 in the SOW where para. (q) states that “The Contractor shall comply with all applicable Federal, State and local laws, executive orders, rules and regulations applicable to its performance under this contract.” The state of Colorado requires the Awardee/SDVOSB Prime Contractor to have a Wholesaler or Out-of-State Wholesaler license to distribute medical gases (medical-grade oxygen for human consumption is classified by the FDA as a prescription drug). Additionally, the licensing requirement is directly linked to the GOV’s required affirmations found in VAAR 852.219-76 – the VA Notice of Limitations on Subcontracting, Certificate of Compliance for Supplies and Products. VAAR 852.219-76 requires offerors to certify in writing that they take ownership/possession of the items, and, with the offeror affirming that they take ownership of the gas, the SDVOB offeror is categorized as a Wholesale Distributor in Colorado and is required to be licensed (cannot be delegated to a subcontractor as the contract is with the Prime

SDVOSB).

Per the Code of Colorado Regulations, State Board of Pharmacy 3 CCR 719-1 Section

15.00.00 Wholesalers (see attached file – PG 94 of 217):

Answer: Yes, please submit your license with your response to the RFQ.

6. LOSS OF USE FOR CONTRACTOR-OWNED CYLINDERS: There is no mention of how the VA will account for Loss of Use in the RFQ. What are the procedures to account for Loss of Use (LOU) costs for contractor-owned cylinders that are lost while in the VA’s possession? How will the vendor be reimbursed in a timely manner for the lost cylinders? Please note, the only way to determine Loss of Use is per a joint audit between the VA and the Prime Contractor to compare what is physically on-hand at the facility against the facility’s most recent invoicing records that show expected cylinder balances based on delivery and return totals throughout the period of performance.

To ensure compliance with the Prompt Payment Act and to establish accountability procedures, we recommend adding language from the LOU verbiage from the VISNs 9/10 Medical Cylinders Contract (36C77623D0910 – awarded in SEPT 2023). NOTE: If annual audits are required, offerors request that a line item be added to account for these costs, which include travel and lodging for POCs from the Prime Contractor and the Subcontractor.

Answer: The SOW has been updated to add section 11 to provide LOU language, as requested.

7. INDEMNIFICATION LANGUAGE: PG 3 of 5 in the SOW (para. 3b) states that “The contractor shall save and hold harmless and indemnify the government against any and all liability. This includes claims and costs of whatsoever kind and nature for injury to or death of any person or persons and for loss or damage to any property occurring in connection with or in any way incident to or arising out of the occupancy, use, service, operations or performance of work under the terms of this contract, resulting in whole or in part from the negligent acts or omissions of contractor, any subcontractor or any employee, agent or representative of contractor or subcontractor.” Please note:

A Contractor cannot broadly hold harmless and indemnify the government “against any and all liability” for events that have not occurred and cannot be foreseen. Additionally, “negligent acts” is a determination made by the GOV and the language does not include factors where the Contractor disputes a negligence claim.

We request that the “against any and all liability” language be removed as no company can assume all liability (or release responsibility) on behalf of the government for unforeseen events where the VA may, in fact, be liable. We request that the “negligent acts or omissions” language be revised to include wording that accounts for how the VA is determining negligence if the Contractor is being held liable (please consider incidences where the Contractor may dispute a negligence claim and provide documentation/evidence to support that dispute).

Answer: This language as been removed. FAR 52.212-4 includes language regarding liability and therefore this language does not need to be included in the SOW.

8. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS:

PG 5 of 10 in the RFQ details a 5-page limit for an offeror’s Technical submission narrative.

Please clarify why the limit is only (5) pages when offerors will be addressing both Bulk Oxygen and Medical Gas Cylinders? The average page limit for VA Solicitations is about (25) pages, so please clarify why the limit is so abbreviated when this is a joint RFQ for the facility.

PG 3 of 10 in the RFQ says that there is a 4MB email size limit for submissions. Please clarify why there is a 4MB limit when VA servers can typically receive emails up to 10MB. The 4MB limit is lower than a standard submission email’s size, which averages about 5-8MB. The size requirement will result in additional submission emails, sometimes for a single file. Please clarify.

Answer: The page limit is hereby increased to 25 pages. Emails up to 10MB are acceptable.