S06 Response to Vendor Questions 36C26327Q0001 0002.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 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

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)

09-08-2026

36C263

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

NETWORK CONTRACTING OFFICE 23

316 ROBERT STREET N, SUITE 506

SAINT PAUL MN 55101

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

NETWORK CONTRACTING OFFICE 23

316 ROBERT STREET N, SUITE 506

SAINT PAUL MN 55101

To all Offerors/Bidders

36C26327Q0001 08-19-2026

X

** HOUR & DATE for Receipt of Offers is EXTENDED to: 09-15-2026 17:00 CDT See CONTINUATION Page

Jeffrey Brown

VA-VHA-RPOC-2024-0033

CONTINUATION PAGE

The purpose of this modification is to respond to vendor questions and extend the offer deadline to the hour and date in box 11 of the SF30 to provide additional time to respond to vendor questions.

Vendor questions in bold, VA responses in red.

Changes to Statement of Work (SOW) highlighted.

1. Can the Government provide historical monthly or weekly shredding volumes for each location, or alternatively the lowest and highest monthly volumes experienced during the previous contract period?

See the attached spreadsheet, S02 Shredded Paper Weight Production with data from 2026-2024.

1. Section 1 of the SOW states that service must occur between 7:00 AM and 3:30 PM Monday through Wednesday, while Section 3(a) states Monday through Friday. Please confirm the permitted service days.

Discrepancy has been corrected, the pick up days will be between Monday and Friday. See updated SOW below.

1. Background and drug-screen requirements: Section 5 requires documentation of background investigations, U.S. citizenship/naturalization, drug screening, and periodic reevaluation. Please clarify whether an employer's existing documented background investigation and drug-screening program may satisfy these requirements, or whether the VA requires a separate specific investigation or screening process in addition to VA credentialing.

A Contractor’s current background checks do not satisfy VA credentialing requirements.

1. Liability insurance: The SOW requires the contractor to maintain liability insurance. Please identify the required types of insurance and minimum coverage limits applicable to this contract.

The awardee shall have to possess general liability, auto insurance, and workers' compensation insurance. See updated SOW below.

B.4 STATEMENT OF WORK

DOCUMENT DESTRUCTION AND DISPOSAL

BLACK HILLS VA HEALTH CARE SYSTEM (BHVAHCS)

1. GENERAL:

a. The Contractor shall provide all labor, personnel, equipment, supplies, secured vehicles, materials, supervision, and other related services necessary to provide commercial document destruction and disposal services for these 3 campuses:

a. Fort Meade VA Campus, VA Black Hills Health Care System’s main hospital, located at 113 Comanche Road, Fort Meade, SD 57741.

b. Hot Springs VA Campus, VA Black Hills Health Care System’s main hospital, located at 500 N. 5th st., Hot Springs, SD 57747

c. Rapid City CBOC, located at 2165 Promise Road, Rapid City, SD 57701

b. This service shall be performed once per week at a specified time, as agreed to by the Contractor and Contracting Officer Representative (COR). The agreed time must fall between 7:00am – 3:30pm, Monday through Friday.

c. Federal Holidays. Service days that fall on a Federal Holiday or any other day specifically declared by the President of the United States as a Federal Holiday will need to be rescheduled to the day before or after the Federal Holiday. The ten guaranteed Federal Holidays observed by the VA are:

· New Year’s Day

· Martin Luther King’s Birthday

· Memorial Day

· Juneteenth

· Independence Day

· Labor Day

· Columbus Day

· Veterans Day

· Thanksgiving Day

· Christmas Day

d. The Contractor will provide bins to be positioned onsite at each location, for the documents to be stored in until destruction. The bins should be approximately 96-gallon wheeled containers that have an attached lid and are lockable. Console keys shall only be provided to authorized VA employees at the discretion and approval of the VA COR. The COR shall maintain a listing of authorized VA employees.

e. These containers will consist of VA records and other material that may contain sensitive information. These records may include, but not limited to paper, carbon paper, binders, folders, DVD’s, CD’s, VHS tapes, prescription bottles with labels, and other non-paper materials.

f. The Contractor will shred paper material in accordance with VA Directive 6371 of Temporary Paper records. Guidelines require shredders to have cross-cutting capabilities which produce particles that are 1x5 millimeters in size, or disintegrator devices with a 3/32-inch security screen.

g. If on-site mobile shredding equipment does not shred documents to meet the 1x5 millimeters in size, the Contractor or it’s sub-contractor must complete the destruction process by pulverization, bleaching, pulping, or other means, approved in advance by the COR that will fully destroy the data to final destruction. Final destruction is defined as being non-readable and non-reconstructable to any degree.

h. The Contractor will shred all floppy disks, Reel and Cassette Format Magnetic Tapes according to appropriate guidelines. CD’s and DVD’s must be incinerated or shredded to a particle size with nominal edge dimension of 5mm and a surface area of 25mm(squared).

i. Prescription bottles with labels will be shredded to meet the requirement of Final Destruction as defined in VA Directive 6371.

j. The Contractor will service up to 8 bins total for all 3 locations, weekly and provide extra bins for overflow of sensitive documents. The quantities of bins may increase or decrease by 15% at no additional charge to the VA.

k. Estimated and/or historical weights provided by the Government are based on the best available information at the time of issuance of this solicitation. The Government does not guarantee these estimated weights to be factual. The weights are subject to change per the needs of the Government. For the fiscal year 2024, 72,000 pounds of documents were destroyed.

l. The Contractor will provide, at the minimum, “Interim Destruction” onsite and “Final Destruction” offsite. If the Contractor is able to provide “Final Destruction” onsite, this is also acceptable. In any case, a “Certification of Destruction” will be provided to the COR. Please see definitions below for reference.

m. The contractor shall complete a standard Business Associate Agreement (BAA) in accordance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) at the time of contract award.

n. The contractor shall maintain general liability, auto insurance, and workers' compensation insurance for the duration of the contract.

2. DEFINITIONS:

a. Certificate of Destruction: Written documentation that attests to the completion of the destruction process after Final Destruction of the records. Certification of Destruction can be in the form of a letter, memo, or any formal document attesting to Final Destruction. This certificate is not considered valid if completed and submitted prior to the Final Destruction. If the Final Destruction is completed by a subcontractor, then the Certificate of Destruction can be completed by either the subcontractor or the main contractor (with assurance that the subcontractor completed the Final Destruction).

b. Final Destruction: The process, through which temporary paper records are pulped, macerated, shredded, or otherwise destroyed to a degree that definitively ensures that they are not readable or reconstructable to any degree. If this Final Destruction is performed away from a VA facility, it must be performed by an information destruction contractor (or its subcontractor or third party) who has demonstrated that:

(1) Its destruction process constitutes final destruction as defined by VA Directive 6371; and

(2) It has implemented reasonable physical safeguards to protect VA temporary paper, and other VA records containing personal information during their transportation, transfer, or short-term storage prior to the completion of their final destruction. Long-term storage (more than 30 days) must be approved in advance and in writing by the VA organization that generated the temporary paper and other records containing personal information.

c. Interim Destruction: Any physical destruction process that substantially reduces the risk that VA sensitive information (Personally Identifiable Information (PII), Protected Health Information (PHI), etc.) will be disclosed during transport and short-term storage (less than 30 days) of temporary paper and other personal records but does not meet the requirement of Final Destruction as defined in VA Directive 6371. Interim destruction is a reasonable physical safeguard that affords an additional layer of security for temporary paper records and other records containing personal information once they are identified for destruction. This may be while they are stored at a VA location awaiting Final Destruction or when they are removed from VA custody until Final Destruction is completed at an off-site location. It is generally accomplished through maceration, chopping, pulverization, or shredding where these processes do not render the material unreadable or where the material could be reconstructed.

d. Readable: Printed data is readable when strategies can be used to assist with decoding (the translation of letters and/or into sounds or visual representations of speech) data and arriving at comprehension through the use of morpheme, semantics, syntax, and contextual clues to integrate the information they have read into their existing framework of knowledge in order to arrive at a meaning.

e. Reconstructable: Printed data is reconstructable when methods can be employed to reassemble the various portions of material in such a fashion that data can be decoded as to make it readable so that meaning can be derived from the data found on the media.

3. TASKS:

a. Contractor shall arrive at a mutually-agreed upon time each week (must fall between 7:00am – 3:30pm, Monday through Friday) to perform Interim Destruction to documents that have been stored in contractor-owned bins at a single location at each designated VABHHCS Campus. If the contractor is able to provide Final Destruction onsite, this is also acceptable.

b. Contractor will submit one monthly bill through the Tungsten Network for all services during the billing period no more than 30 days after services have been rendered.

c. Contractor will provide the COR with the weight(s) of destroyed material monthly with the invoice submitted through the Tungsten Network.

d. Contractor shall deliver a Certificate of Destruction within thirty (30) days from day of pick up that includes the following:

1. Location of pickup and/or Interim Destruction (VA Black Hills Health Care System)

2. Date of pickup and Interim Destruction

3. Name of Government COR, or VA employee, at pickup location

4. Amount of destroyed documents in pounds

5. Date of Final Destruction

6. Location of Final Destruction

7. Method of Final Destruction

8. Name and Signature of person responsible for Final Destruction

4. NON-DISCLOSURE OF SENSITIVE INFORMATION

a. Contractor staff involved in this contract will have access to some privileged and confidential materials of the US Government. These printed documents are for internal use only and remain the sole property of the US Government. Some of the materials are protected by Privacy Act of 1974 (Amended) and Title 38. Unauthorized disclosure of Privacy Act or Title 38 covered materials, by any contractor or subcontracted staff, is a criminal offense. The contractor is responsible for actions of contract employees.

b. The Contractor acknowledges that in the performance of this contract, the contractor will have access to sensitive information, including information provided on a proprietary basis by carriers, equipment manufacturers, and other private or public entities. The contractor agrees to safeguard these privileges and use the information exclusively in the performance of this contract. The contractor shall comply with applicable Government regulations regarding information document security to prevent disclosure of sensitive information to unauthorized individuals or organizations.

c. Upon discovery of any known or suspected security/privacy incidents, or any unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information including that contained in system(s) to which the contractor has access, the contractor shall immediately notify the COR. The term ‘security incident’ means an event that has, or could have resulted in unauthorized access to, loss, or damage to VA assets, or sensitive information, or an action that breaches VA security procedures. See VA Handbook 6500.6, Appendix C, paragraph 6a.

5. MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR INFORMATION DESTRUCTION:

1. Contractor and any subcontractor must be able to meet the following standards:

a. Documentation and control of Employees

i. Documentation of who has access to materials (minimum necessary access only is allowed)

ii. Documentation of background investigations (types and frequency)

iii. Documentation of citizenship, naturalization (no non-US citizens)

iv. Documentation of drug screen

v. Documentation of re-evaluation of above items (at least every two years)

b. Documentation and control of destruction equipment

i. Type (Mobile or Plant-Based)

ii. Manufacturer and Model

iii. Serial Number

iv. Dates of non-operational downtime for repair

c. Documentation and control of destruction and collection vehicles

i. Vehicle make and model

ii. License plate number

iii. State/County of registration

iv. Acceptable overnight storage address and location

v. Acceptable roadworthiness of vehicles

vi. Locks and security of vehicles

vii. Driver logs to show who has control of vehicle at any given time

d. Documentation and control of all recipients of materials

i. Name of individual/company

ii. Address where received

iii. Method of final disposition

iv. Certifications of destruction (general documentation acceptable as long as it is attributable to VA’s data (e.g., “bails shipped on <date> were pulped on, date.)

e. Written Policies and Procedures

2. Contractor and any subcontractor must be able to meet the following standards ONLY IF FINAL DESTRUCTION IS COMPLETED OFFSITE:

a. Physical and Operational Security

i. Monitored Alarm System(s) that include the following

ii. Motion Detectors

iii. Door Contacts

iv. Battery Back-Up

v. Monitoring Service

b. Taped Closed Circuit TV (CCTV) monitors with the following

i. Fully Functional Cameras

ii. Recording Devices

iii. Security Recording Tape Library

c. Sufficient Lighting to allow CCTV

d. Locks and Key Controls

e. Visitor Logs

i. Visitor In/Out Logs

ii. Visitor ID Badges

f. All destruction will take place within the enclosure of the destruction facility, which consists of four solid walls and a ceiling, and meets all criteria related to physical building security.

g. The only permissible uses of a mobile destruction vehicle will be within the enclosure of the destruction, on-site at the VA’s premises, or at an off-site location if approved of in advance by VA and located within walking distance of the VA premises.

h. A log is kept to record, the dates and times that the mobile destruction vehicle is operating with the destruction facility, which shall be made available to VA during an audit, by means of review of CCTV images.

i. The mobile destruction vehicle will be made available to VA for audit, within the enclosure of the destruction facility, during the initial audit and during all scheduled re-audits, for demonstration purposes.

6. INSPECTION:

a. Representatives of the Government shall have the right to inspect the contractor’s and subcontractor’s facilities and operations provided for the performance of work under this agreement. Upon request, the contractor and/or subcontractor will provide the COR with samples of shredded records for both Interim (if applicable) and Final Destruction.

7. CONTRACTOR QUALITY CONTROL:

a. The contractor shall develop and maintain quality control programs to ensure destruction services are performed in accordance with mandated specifications, regulations and laws. The contractor shall develop and implement procedures to identify and prevent the occurrence of defective services.

8. CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL BADGES AND PARKING:

a. The contractor’s employees performing these services must wear a company uniform while on Government property.

b. The contractor shall provide the COR with a list of contractor employees expected to perform any services on VA premises. While on VA premises, all contractor personnel shall comply with the rules, regulations, and procedures governing the conduct of personnel and the operation of the facility. A VA Employee must supervise the services performed onsite.

c. Contractor staff must display identification while on VA premises that include Employee’s name as well as the company that is performing the services.

d. It is the responsibility of the Contractor’s personnel to park in the appropriate designated parking areas. Parking information shall be coordinated with the COR.

e. The VA Black Hills Health Care System does not validate or make reimbursement for parking violations of the Contractor’s personnel under any circumstance.

f. The Contractor shall comply with BHVAHCS security, access, and badging requirements. Employees must provide fingerprints and be able to pass a background check so they can obtain a security access badge.

g. All Contractor staff will need a valid individual personal or professional email account that can be easily checked. Notifications regarding fingerprint scheduling/appointments, background investigation tasks, and Training Management System (TMS) required classes will be sent to their email address throughout the badging process.

h. Appropriate vendor staff (as determined by the VA) performing the duties of the Statement of Work shall complete the computer-based training courses “TMS 10203 HIPPA” and “TMS 20939 No Access”.

i. Contractor staff shall be escorted while on VHA property.

j. Contractor personnel, as determined by the VA, who will perform services at the VA Facility must acquire VA identification through the VA’s Personal Identification Verification (PIV) system. The Contractor personnel must wear visible VA Contractor Identification at all times while on VA premises. The documentation to obtain a PIV badge or non-PIV badge will be provided by VA to the contractor after award. Contractor personnel will be required to be fingerprinted to receive a PIV badge. Any cost associated with badges (i.e. judication) is the responsibility of the Contractor.

i. As requested by the VA the Contractor will submit all required security badging documents for onsite employee within ten (10) business days from the date of request. All documents must be legible. The following documents will be sent to the Contractor via email after contract is awarded:

1. OF 306 – Must be Typed. Submission of handwritten forms will not be acceptable.

2. Self-Certification

3. VA 10-2417

4. Employee Fingerprint Resource Form

ii. Contractor staff will utilize a temporary vendor’s security badge until a permanent security badge can be issued. Temporary badge use will not exceed 30 calendar days.

k. Contractor shall adhere to the following sections of the IT Contract Security Clause below:

(1) General

(4) Training

(5) Security Incident Investigation