36C26218Q9435-0002000.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 __________ 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 ITEM 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 reference 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) 07-05-2018 N/A 00262 Department of Veterans Affairs Network Contracting Office 22 4811 Airport Plaza Drive Suite 600 Long Beach

CA

90815 00262 Department of Veterans Affairs Network Contracting Office 22 4811 Airport Plaza Drive Suite 600 Long Beach

CA

90815 To all Offerors/Bidders

36C26218Q9435

X X THE PURPOSE OF THIS AMENDMENT IS TO ANSWER QUESTIONS FROM VENDORS. ALL OTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS

REMAIN THE SAME.

DON WEERASINGHE

CONTRACTING OFFICER

CONTINUATION PAGE

QUESTIONS :

(1) How many Veterans are participating in the HUD-VASH program of the Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System (GLAHS)?

There are currently 7,629 Housing and Urban Development – Veteran Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) vouchers allocated to the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System (VA GLAHS). These vouchers are allocated throughout the GLAHCS catchment area at several Public Housing Authorities (PHA). Of those vouchers, 5,200 are actively leased up and an estimated 800 vouchers are set aside for Project Based Voucher (PBV) use. This leaves roughly 1,600 vouchers in need of lease up. This does not account for any potentially new vouchers that HUD may award in FY18 or during the term of the contract

(2) How many Veterans are participating in HUD-VASH programs of community partners?

There are currently 2,106 HUD-VASH vouchers being supported by our HUD-VASH contract community partners. There are currently 1,835 Veterans being actively case managed by our community partnership agencies.

(3) What are the names of the GLAHS’ community partners operating HUD-VASH programs? OR/AND How many community partners are operating HUD-VASH programs in the GLAHS?

There are currently four (4) contracts awarded for support of GLA HUD-VASH Case Management Services. Those contracts are currently awarded to Carlos Lopez and Associates, PATH, Step Up and Volunteers of America.

(4) Solicitation – Page 15 of 89: The pricing table contains Item Numbers 0001 and 0002 for the base year and three option years. Line Item 0001that you are asking us to price, represents the price we would charge for the effort to produce 250 successful rental leases. Does this effort requires/includes the direct services provided by the HS/LL positions. Is it contracting’s expectation that our pricing for Line Item 0001 account for our HS/LL positions, as well as other costs associated with producing the prescribed rental leases?

Vendors are free to have their own accounting system. At least a portion of the HS/LL position expenses may be included in line item one. When analyzing the pricing portion of the proposal line item pricing and the total price of the proposal will be considered.

(5) Solicitation - Page 21 of 89: Section 2.C.7 states that the contractor is to disburse contract funding to incentivize landlord participation and promote quicker housing placement and provide receipts for all funding for this purpose. Is funding for these incentives to be included in the price proposal? If so, how is the variation in incentives and costs that could occur between offerors evaluated in the selection process?

No, the vendor would not be reimbursed for these expenses separately. This should be factored into the vendor’s overall proposal as an expectation of the services required by the contract.

(6) Solicitation - Page 21 of 89: Section 2.D.1 requires a 24/7 hotline be established. Does this include coverage on Federal holidays?

Yes. The expectation is that someone from the Contractor will be available 24/7 365 days a year to field calls.

(7) Solicitation - Page 23 of 89: Section D.2.4 mentions working with HUD-VASH staff to develop ways to acknowledge landlords. Are expenses for items associated with this such as special events and awards ceremonies to be included in the price proposal?

No, the vendor would not be reimbursed for these expenses separately. This should be factored into the vendor’s overall proposal as an expectation of the services required by the contract.

(8) Solicitation - Page 23 of 89: Section D.4.1 mentions monthly reporting of the number of completed requests for tenancy applications. Section C.3 says the contractor is responsible for helping landlords review prospective tenants’ standardized rental applications that are already completed by Veterans before the first on-site meeting. For monthly reporting, what is considered a completed request for tenancy application?

A completed request means the form is filled out and submitted.

(9) Are there additional contractor tasks associated with this other than helping landlords review the application?

No

(10) Solicitation - Page 26 of 89: Section D.9.1 requires the contractor to ensure staffing is available at a level to provide all contract services for every Veteran served. What is the estimated number of Veterans that will be referred to the contractor for prospective apartments during the base and each option period? If the estimated quantity of Veterans referred significantly increases beyond this estimate, will the government entertain a price modification to adjust for increasing staff to maintain the level of service for each Veteran served?

The pricing structure of the contract has been modified to include a variable rate based on the number of Veterans housed monthly; therefore, this should work to offset an increase in cost associated with a higher number of Veterans served. However, contractors may use the standard contracting process to request a change in payment during the period of performance.

(11) Solicitation - Page 28 of 89: Section D.15 requires certification of testing/immunizations for all contractor personnel throughout the term of the contract. Since contractor staff are predominately interacting with landlords and their agents, please confirm that the requirement applies for this Housing Placement and Retention Services Contract.

Yes, this requirement applies.

(12) Solicitation - Page 32 of 89: Section D.25 states that the 24/7 on-call service available to landlords is to “…be provided by one of the Contractor HS/LL staff or an equivalently qualified staff assigned by the contractor.” Operating a 24/7 call center would involve multiple staff members to achieve the level of coverage and service required in the solicitation. Please confirm that the use of “one of the” in the solicitation does not mean the government expects this task to be performed by a single housing specialist

It is expected the Contractor will be responsible for assigning the personnel for this. The government does not expect the task to be performed by a single housing specialist.

(13) Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) - Page 2-4: The performance standards in the QASP do not seem consistent with the contractor performance requirements in the solicitation (Section D.3. on Page 23 of 89 and hotline protocol parameters in table on Page 22 of 89). For example, the first performance indicator in the table on Page 2 of the QASP is to build a robust portfolio of landlords willing to rent units to HUD-VASH participants with a standard to increase the number of landlords by 20% each month and an acceptable quality level of 95% to achieve in order for the contractor to receive 50% of the total monthly billing. Whereas Subsection D.3.1. requires that each month the contractor identify ten landlords who have not participated in VASH previously. Please explain the discrepancies between the two documents and indicate which standards – those in the solicitation or the QASP will be applied to determine payment.

The QASP is revised to align with the updated payment structure (base rate plus a variable rate based on the number of Veterans housed). Various metrics in the QASP will be used to monitor performance; however, incentive payments will be tied only to the number of Veterans housed monthly, including new move-ins and those continuously housed during the billing cycle.

(14) QASP - Page 2-4: Some of the performance standards list a quantitative acceptable quality level tied to a standard that is subjective or missing a measurable standard. One example is Item 2 on Page 3 of the table which includes the following Indicator:

“Provide funding to landlords for credit checks/application fees; apartment repairs to pass PHA inspection, and damage mitigation (monies above security deposit).

Veterans referred will move into housing within 60 days of the referral date” The acceptable quality standard is 95% with a stated surveillance method of reviewing receipts for funding utilized, landlord feedback and HOMES. In this case, what is the 95% applied to when determining whether the standard has been met?

· 95% of landlords determined to warrant additional assistance through record reviews and landlord feedback will have received such assistance from the contractor during the review period.

· 95% of all Veterans referred will move into housing within 60 days of referral, which will be assessed through review of HOMES records.

(15) Furthermore, this measurable along with the one immediately proceeding it in the QASP table (negatively discharged reduction of VASH participants) seems to be highly dependent on the effectiveness of the housing placement and case management services delivered through the current HUD-VASH program. How does contracting plan on analyzing and determining the appropriate “cause and effect,” before attributing the failed objective to the contractor and decreasing the variable monthly pay rate?

Please see modified payment structure, which focuses incentives on Veterans in housing during the billing cycle. The contractor will play a part in promoting Veterans in maintaining stable housing through providing ongoing landlord support, through the landlord hotline, and through timely notification to the VA of a pending evictions to either avoid eviction or identify alternative housing resources in an expedited manner.

(16) QASP - Page 4-5: The Invoicing Section indicates that:

“The pricing scale for the contract will be based on a combination of a standard rate for operations/overhead costs, in addition to performance based incentives: 50% of the total monthly billing cost will represent a flat rate, while 50% will be variable based on the pricing structure based below (Note: Percentages below represent the increase based on the 50% variable rate, not the full contract amount per month).”

Is the monthly billing cost mentioned above the sum of line items: Number of successful rental leases signed in IAW the PWS AND General Supportive Services (Fixed Cost), for each period in the price proposal structure on Page 15 of 89 of the solicitation? If not, what does it equate to in the pricing section of the solicitation?

Note that the incentive has been adjusted to the number of Veterans in housing during the billing cycle along with the fixed rate. Yes, the monthly cost would be the sum of the fixed and variable rates.