36C78620Q0031-0002001.docx

Solicitation 36C78620Q0031 - Questions, Comments, and Government Responses.

1. Will the VA accept a copy of a CPARS report in lieu of a performance questionnaire?

Answer: No, The Government shall use all required documentation as prescribe in Solicitation 36C78620Q0031 as well as any Government applications to access Past Performance of offerors.

2. Question In regard to the turf installation, section A6(d) of the Statement of Work states “The contractor will be required to water and maintain each gravesite for a period of sixty (60) days until the sod is fully established.

Answer: The Government shall not interfere with the execution of Government Contracts with contracted organizations. As per section A6(d) of the Statement of Work – the contract language states clearly, “The contractor will be required to water and maintain each gravesite for a period of sixty (60) days until the sod is fully established”.

3. What is the current contract dollar amount?

Answer: The total contract value of the current contract is $1,664,360.97.

4. What are the current CLIN dollar amounts?

Answer: This information is proprietary and shall not be discussed with 3rd party entities by Government Officials.

5. CLIN 0007,1007,2007,3007 and 4007 states that over seeding is to be completed in specific sections, however, in the SOW it states, "that over seeding will consist of grass seed evenly spread throughout the cemetery turf acreage". Is over seeding to be performed only in sections listed and not the entire cemetery?

Answer: Over Seeding is to be completed only in the sections identified in the SOW, not the entire cemetery acreage.

6. Is contractor required to perform supplemental watering of installed sod?

Answer: Yes, see question #2 for more detail.

7. Approximately how soon will an award be made for this solicitation?

Answer: The Government is anticipating the execution of this contract award on 1 Oct 2019.

8. Will the sections be irrigated by the cemetery to insure proper translocation of herbicide/fertilizer?

Answer: The cemetery only has limited capacity to irrigate and they do not irrigate after herbicide applications

9. Sod installation on various grave sites calls for sod to be watered and maintained for 60 days, does this include mowing & weed whacking at headstone?

Answer: No, only watering.

10. If this maintenance is to be done by cemetery personal or contract labor, who will be responsible for any damaged sod areas caused by maintenance? A.6 (d) Answer: The cemetery will be responsible

11. What is the total turf acreage at Long Island National Cemetery and Cypress Hills cemeteries to be treated?

Answer: Total turf acreage at LINC is 310 and at Cypress Hills its 18 acres

12. Are any of the herbicides being used on a restricted list of chemicals used at National Cemeteries due to their chemical makeup associated with agent orange?

Answer: No

13. We have a few concerns regarding the statement of work in reference to section A4, treatment 3. Normally, Dimension, while legal to apply in Nassau and Suffolk counties in NY, is never used on large commercial applications. Due to the low dosage (0.37 ounces per square feet, half that of the legal rate elsewhere in the US), and the difficulties associated with applying a liquid treatment at such a low dosage to such a large area, the use of dimension is limited to residential applications. Application equipment cannot really be relied upon to provide accurate coverage on such large areas at such low dosages. Granular products have proven to be the most effective way to provide appropriate coverage on large commercial properties. And, as granular dimension is not legal to be used in Nassau and Suffolk counties, we therefore rely on Prodiamine or it’s genetic equivalents.

Response narrative: Dimension does not necessarily need to be the product used, but we want the product to be applied in liquid form for the pre-emergent control of crabgrass.

14. Government response, in regard to questions related to the fertilization approach.

a. regarding Split application” of pre-emergent crabgrass control vs. the single application laid out in the table at A4 approach.

Answer: Application #3 is the first application to include the pre-emergent crabgrass control and application #4 is then to include another pre emergent control along with a post emergent control for broadleaf weeds.

b. recommendation that treatment 3 be a pre-emergent fertilizer with Prodiamine and that this treatment be repeated (a second “split” application) with treatment number 5.

Answer: We do not like to include fertilization that soon in the spring to the turf, so we are keeping the schedule as it currently is.

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