36C26319R0153-0001029.pdf

Questions and Responses - RFP 36C26319R0153, Echocardiographer Technicians for the Minneapolis VA Hospital

1. I have a question about the Combined Synopsis/Solicitation posted to FBO under solicitation number 36C26319R0153.

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

This is not a new requirement. 36C26318C0081.

2. Para 2.9.3 - Reference the statement "In the event a scheduled MIT (Echocardiographer) is unable to complete an assigned shift, the contractor shall provide replacement MIT (Echocardiographer) coverage within 2 hours and notify the Contracting Office Representative (COR) and Cardiology Section at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System immediately of the schedule change."

I am requesting that this requirement be deleted or add a CLIN for backup hours totaling

8,528. In order to meet this requirement we would need to schedule and pay one of the Echo

Techs to be on daily backup....or do you anticipate this fee to be part of our overhead calculations?

We would want to be notified within at least 2 hours of the starting of a shift if an ECHO

Contractor is unable to make the shift. Since we are not credentialing extra staff at this time, a replacement contractor would not be required. We plan to amend the solicitation to remove this item.

3. Para 3.2.3 - Call coverage - Since we have to pay our employees to be on call, can you add a CLIN for on-call for weekday nights, weekends and holidays? Or do we need to have this as part of our overhead?

We will not be adding an on-call clin for a tech to carry a pager, we will pay the hourly rate once they are on-site. This is how our previous tech contracts have worked at the Minneapolis

VA. As of this date, we have not had ECHO contractors need to work on-call, so the estimated amount of on-call hours is expected to be very low.

4. Para 3.3 - Reference "The VA does not pay Contractors for Federal Holidays. If contractor works on a Federal Holiday, they will be paid the regular contracted rate." If our employees work on holidays we will need to pay them double time. How many holidays do you anticipate them working?

The VA will pay one hourly rate, we do not pay federal holiday pay to a contractor. It would be up to the Vendor if they wanted to pay holiday pay. As of this date, no ECHO Contractor has ever had to work the 11 regularly scheduled Federal Holidays. The ECHO clinics are closed. Last year, President Trump mandated a day of mourning in December for President Bush, the VA was still open and our own employees received holiday pay but contracted hourly rate was paid to the Contractor for the hours worked. It was up to the Contractor if they paid a holiday pay rate for the mandated holiday.

5. Is there overtime authorized on the contact? Based on the hours budgeted (8,528), it appears there are 2,132 hrs per FTE (4) which is 268 hrs over the full-time hours of 1,864/FTE. If overtime is authorized, can a CLIN be added a bill rate for time and a half?

No overtime pay, we will pay one rate for hours worked. Once we figure out the number of

ECHO Techs needed, it will be 2080 hours/year for a FTEE. I will also be adjusting the 2237 to reflect the 2080 hours/per FTE, I had asked Finance council for on-call extra hours. However, those hours are all going for the VA staff so I will be reducing with the actual award.

6. I could not find any reference to this contract falling under the Service Contract Act...please confirm.

Service Contract Labor Standards apply, please see C.20 52.212-5 contains 52.204-14, 52.222-

41, 52.222-42 and 52.222-43. Wage Determination – No less than the Federal minimum wage.

Statement from the Department of Labor:

Based upon the information provided regarding the number of employees and the classification of the workers to be employed on the contract, no wage determination is being issued for this procurement. Therefore, in accordance with Title 29 C.F.R. Part 4, Section 4.6(d), the contractor is required to pay no less than the Federal minimum wage.

7. Is the solicitation 36C26319R0153 ONLY for a designated service disabled veteran owned small business?

Yes, this is an SDVOSB set-aside.

8. Also, are the echocardiograms requested adult only or a combination of adult and pediatrics?

Adult only – We have a lot of geriatric veteran patients.

9. Is there an incumbent contractor?

YES

10. Among the incumbent workers, are all the positions filled?

With the incumbent contract workers, we are fully staffed. We foresee a long term vacancy, which is why we need a contract.

11. Will you accept just Paragraph (b) of the Representations and Certifications if we are registered in SAM?

Part C of the instructions for the Price Proposal (included below) implies that we require all fill-in pages for the Contract Clauses (Pages 43 – 65).

Please clarify which clauses need to be included within our response other than the FAR 52.212- 3 Representations and Certifications.

Thanks for reaching out with this question.

In this specific solicitation, you are correct. There does not appear to be any fill-in requirements in the Contract Clauses section (Pages 43-65). Yes, 52.212-3 in Section E does have fill-ins.

However, since the required clauses vary depending on the solicitation type, contract type and set aside requirements, the number of clauses that require a fill will vary. Furthermore, some clauses require fill-ins depending on the type of business submitting a proposal. Due to these reasons, we just ask the offeror to read each clause and if a fill-in is required, we ask the offeror to submit that along with the rest of their proposal.

Additionally, we will not reject a proposal for a missing fill-in. If it is determined that a fill-in is missing information, we will simply enter into clarifications with the offeror to attain the needed information.