Attachment 10 Questions and Answers.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 17 KB Posted
- Solicitation number
- 36C79123R0001
About this file
This document contains questions and answers related to a solicitation for wheeled mobility repair services for the Department of Veterans Affairs. The solicitation seeks pricing for repairs and parts for manual wheelchairs, powered wheelchairs, and scooters. Offerors are expected to ensure sufficient parts inventory and repair capabilities. Repair timeframes are provided but allowances are made for extended repairs requiring loaner equipment. Questions cover various process details such as order intake, preferred vendors, subcontractor qualifications, site inspections, and discontinuation of parts.
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Q and A
| Question # | RFP Section/Paragraph Number | Questions | Answers |
| 1 | Attachment 11, question 1 | It states rentals but I did not see a list of rental equipment the VAMC's would want available. Are the VAMC's purchasing rental equipment and it would be stored at contract sites? | No the VAMC's will not be purchasing rental equipment. Local repair sites would have sufficient capability to service the contract needs. Rental/Loaner chairs would only be required, when repairs will take an extended period of time (and Veteran does not have an adequate spare). |
| 2 | Attachment 5, Section 1.3 | Teaming Partners/Subcontractors - must they hold the same qualifications are contractor? Specifically, must they be registered on SAM? | Subcontractors are not required to be registered in SAM; however, they must hold the same qualification as the prime contractor. Also read FAR 52.204-15 if applies. References: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/09/26/2018-20706/federal-acquisition-regulation-system-for-award-management-registration. |
| 3 | Attachment 5, Section 4 | Regarding on site inspections; if bidding contractor intends to use subcontractors will on site inspections be completed only at bidding contractor location(s) or at subcontracting locations as well? | The VA reserves the right to inspect any contract or subcontract facility. |
| 4 | Pre-solicitation Notice | Aside from being a small business and the appropriate NACIS code, what are the requirements/standards to bid? | The pre-solicitation was intended to notify all future offerors that solicitation will be posted. The requirements/standards to bid are written in E.2 Addendum FAR 52.212-1 instructions to the Offerors and will be evaluated according to E.8 Addendum to FAR 52.212-2 after reading the entirety of the solicitation, amendments, and attachments. |
| 5 | Attachment 3, Master Equipment Models | Some of these items are no longer available and parts are limited, if parts cannot be supplied due to limited availability - what is the repair expectations of the VAMC? | Local repair sites are expected to have sufficient parts stock to service the contract. VA would be notified of supply limitations rendering repair site unable to service the area. In cases of parts no longer available, VA would be notified immediately. |
| 6 | Attachment 3, Equipment Tabs | Are you looking for prices for all repair components for each tabbed equipment or are you looking for prices for the parts only listed on Attachement 1? | Yes. The VA is requiring prices for all aspects of this contract (e.g parts and labor). |
| 7 | General Question | I am seeing limited units for evaluations, however I am not seeing units/trip charges - am I overlooking it or will the trip charge be determined on a case by case bases? | There is not trip pricing in this contract.The charges for associated trip distance will be priced into the repair service for evaluation. |
| 8 | Attachment 1, Qty Question | Based on FOIA data, the quantity numbers listed on Powered Wheelchair, MWC, Scooters are not reflective of the amount of repairs VAMC'S across the US are paying for, am I correct to assume that awarded solicitation quantity would be percentage based? If so, would the percentaged be based per VAMC or as a whole? | The estimated repairs are calculated on the percentage of local Veterans multiplied by the estimated manual wheelchair, powered wheelchair, and scooters per year. The percentage was based on local Veterans within United States and its territories. |
| 9 | General Question | As a company that currently works with multiple VAMCs, generally speaking, with DME repairs, the Veteran contacts the repair facility and authorizations are obtain via the repair facility. How will work orders be received? | Veterans will contact the call center 24 hour hotline. See solicitation. |
| 10 | General Question | Most Veteran's have preferred DME repair companies, will the VAMC's be utilizing preferred vendors and/or honoring Veteran's preferred vendor request? | Contracted repair network companies would be utilized as first line. In some instances non-contract DME repair companies may be utilized to meet the Veteran needs. |
| 11 | Attachment 1, Power wheelchair | Regarding Units of Services, what happens when the repair cannot happen within the alloted amount of time? For example, on complex mobility, to replace a seat elevator, you are completely disassembling the chair, wiring harness, electrical components and then completely rebuilding and reinstalling a seat lift, wiring harnesses and electrically components then completing reprogramming. In some cases, this cannot be completed withing 1hr and 15minutes | Yes. Certain complex chair repairs will require increased time and labor and the chair repaired at the local facility. In these cases the rental chair may be required and provided by the contracted repair company. See solicitation for details on billing units. |
| 12 | Attachment 1, Power wheelchair, MWC, scooters | Regarding Frame Repairs; Most of the time when the frame is damaged, manufacturers recommend replacement not repair, in cases where a replacement is more appropriate and/or cost effective, what would the procedures be? | Contracted repair vendor will notify call center reporting chair cannot be repaired. A loaner will be provided by the contract repair vendor until a new chair can be obtained via the VA. Contract repair vendor will not provide a new replacement chair. |
| 13 | Attachment 2 | The majority of these states have their own approved vendor lists, is the bidding contractor required to use current VAMC vendors as subcontractors? | This is up to the offeror when submitting their proposal. |
| 14 | Attachment 9 | Each VAMC has their own established procedures and policies for authorizations/repairs. This solicitation is going to disrupt their established procedures, prior to the roll out date, will the awarded contractor be provided the opportunity to speak with the VAMC's to iron out the finer details such as; authorization requests, approval procedures, modifcations of existing work orders, backordered information, repair vs. replacement, referral systems | This contract will augment any current local procedures/policies. This contract is intended to provide greater access and timeliness to repairs. |
| 15 | Attachment 6, Past Perf Template | Do you have a prefence for who these come from? Prior/Current Contractor Officers, VAMC employees? I have not had to submit the past performance report as of yet so I am not sure who would be appropriate to ask | Since this is the offerors past performance, so it up to them where it comes from; however, read E.2 Addendum to FAR 52.212-1 Instructions to the Offerors Factor 3 i & ii when submitting the requirement. |
| 16 | Attachment 8, PO Layout | Currently, repair orders come over one at a time, per veteran, the lay out on the example looks very similar to the layout we use on other solicitations which are billed per line item and quanity on Tungsten. Will repairs under this soli be billed individually or under the Tungsten processes? | These repair orders under our contract would be billed individually and in automated fashion directly to the DLC, not through Tungsten. |
| 17 | Attachment 9, item 8 | What is field training referring to? | Internal to VA. |
| 18 | There are several items on the master equipment list that have been discontinued or relaunched under the same model number - however the parts are different with the old version of the equipment vs the new version of the equipment. | Part numbers will be updated to be as current as possible. | |
| 19 | Would you like prices for the old and new model? Because parts are not always compatible across the generations of the equipment, and the prices are different | Yes. | |
| 20 | General Questions | As small business that works with many VA's - from experience I know that each VA (even those located in the same VISN) have their own established policies/procedures in place regarding repairs, prior to the roll out, as well as each of the following roll out phrases, will be awarded contractor be provided the opportunity to discuss/iron out the finer details of working with Prosthetic departments such as authorization process, modification to existing work orders, referral system, submission processes, reconcilitation/audit process, etc? | Please refer to Solicitation's PWS for process, modifications, and reconciliation. |
| 21 | General Questions | How will work orders be received from Prosthetics? Will they be delivered as 10-90s - asking for an evaluation with a quote, and approval will come after? Or will they be coming through as repairs orders? | Please refer to Solicitation's PWS for order process. |
| 22 | Attachment 3 | Some of these manufacturers will only sell parts, or certain parts, to their own in-house approved repair people, to avoid the market being flooded cheaper options. In those situations, we bidding contractors cannot supply a price quote - how would you like it noted on the excel spreadsheet? | Offerer will be expected to ensure sufficient parts are available to provide for repairs. |
| 23 | Attachment 3 | Multiple items, have been discontinued, while some discontinued items have parts available others do not, and the quanitity of those parts is limited. I can supply pricing for these items, but it does not guarantee they will be available should they needed in 6 weeks or 6 months. Do discontinued and/or limited quanity parts, need to be noted? | Yes. |
| 24 | Attachment 4, Initial Phase, Patient | The patient typically contacts their preferred/delivery vendor for repairs. The preferred vendor then contacts prothetics for repair authorization, then arranges for repairs. How would Veteran's know to contact the awarded contractor versus their preferred vendor? Follow up, if Veteran is contacting their delivery/preferred vendor and that vendor is contacting the VA for authorization are they going to lose that repair opportunity because of this soli? Or will the parts be ordered through the awarded contractor and then drop shipped to the delivery/preferred vendor? | Please refer to Solicitation's PWS for process specifics. Post contract award, VA facility clinical and Prosthetics staff as well as Veterans will be provided education on new repair process. |
| 25 | Attachment 4, Triage Phase, VCC | "Contractor sends repair technician to Veteran's location of repair" which means there is a trip charge, but there is not a location on any excel sheet for trip charge break downs. Should trip charges be included in the per unit of service? | Yes, trip charge will be included in the per unit of service. |
| 26 | Attachment 5, Section 1.3 | "…teaming partners, or subcontractors" Would teaming partners/subcontractors be held to the same standard as VA vendors such as SAM registration, verification and certifications? Follow up, is the VA expecting subcontractors to be vendors from their specific preferred vendor list? | Read #2 Answer regarding teaming partners or subcontractors. The solicitation did not provide preferred vendors, the answer is "No". |
| 27 | General Question; Shipping | Manufacturers determine shipping cost based on destination, weight, plus a fuel charge. Destination is broken down by VISN/manufacturer territory, so it's consistent. The fuel charge is 5% of the order total with most manufacturers. Weight varies by order and therefore cannot be determined by part item, because any given order might have 1 or 5 items in it. (I can order a motor and pay $40 in shipping, or I can order 4 wiring harness and bump switch and pay $25 in shipping) How is shipping determined and/or included for orders? | Submitted pricing would need to cover all associated costs with supplying sufficient parts in stock. |
| 28 | Attachment 1, "Repair Evaluations" | Depending on the VA the Veteran obtained their equipment through, vendors have preauthorization to complete evaluations prior to written authorization be obtained, contingent on their ability to confirm it is VA provided equipment, Veteran status, etc - this typically occurs because the Veteran has an ongoing relationship with a certain vendor, so that vendor can reduce turn around time on repairs because the vendor can confirm all neccessary information. In these situations, how is this soli expected to be utilized? | This is a separate contract and the awardee will provide its own customer service to the Veterans. Please refer to Solicitation's PWS. |
| 29 | Attachment 1, "Parts Being Repaired/Replaced" | Powerchair, MWC and Scooters do have common parts, however they do not share all the parts listed on the "Parts being repaired/replaced" how do you want the items that are not applicable to a specific mobility equipment differientiated? Example; scooter do not have joysticks, they have throttle pots and levers, do you want the throttle pots and levers listed? Or just not include joystick on the offer? | Specific parts for manual wheelchairs and scooters should be listed as well. |
| 30 | Attachment 1, Powerchairs, Frame | Manufacturers do not recommend repairs on frames/bases, repairs to frames cannot be done safely. They recommend straight replacement. Replacement for power mobility is always more cost effective through manufacturer VA sales versus DME companies. Repairs cannot be quoted. How do you want this noted/quoted? | In the event a chair connot be repaired, the POC will be contacted to facilitate the process of a new chair (providing a new chair is not part of this contract). Offerer will not be required to provide the new chair. Please refer to solicitation's PWS service call. |
| 31 | General | Does base and 4 year option mean that annually, the VA can change contractors as deemed necessary? | The purpose of base and 4 option years is to provide the Government the option to extend the term of the contract/exercise the contract yearly with the awardee unless the contract is terminated or the contract is no longer required by the program office. |
| 32 | General | There does not seem to be a bid submission requirement section so we want to confirm that only Attachment 2, 3, and 6 is part of the RFP submission while the rest is additional information? | Please refer to Section E.2 Addendum for FAR 52.212-1 Instructions to the Offeror and E.8 Addendum to FAR 52.212-2 Evaluation-Commercial Items. Attachment 2, 3, and 6 are just a part of submission to the contracting officer. |
| 33 | Attachment 1 & 2 | This attachment has specified limits of time on servicing various components for manual wheelchars, powered wheelchairs, and scooters. Normally, equipment repair or service is not this cut and dry and may exceed these times. Do these limits require full adherence without exception? | If the repair requires extended length of time, a loaner chair will be provided by the Offerer until the repair is completed. In the event of extended work times, justification for exceeded times will be required and approved. |
| 34 | Attachment 1 & 2 | Are the limits intended to be benchmarked? Service times are subject to multiple variables. Time to respond can be assigned but not service time. | Yes. If the repair requires extended length of time, a loaner chair will be provided by the Offerer until the repair is completed. In the event of extended work times, justification for exceeded times will be required and approved. |
| 35 | Attachment 3 | Due to price changes, availability, we don't believe anyone in the industry is able to provide every part, unit price, and catalog price for every manufacturer and every model that is available in the market due to a significant amount of variability out there. How should this sheet be filled out given that limitation? | Offerer will be expected to ensure sufficient parts are available to provide for repairs. Please refer to Section E.2 Addendum for FAR 52.212-1 Instructions to the Offeror and E.8 Addendum to FAR 52.212-2 Evaluation-Commercial Items. |
&"Arial,Regular"&12Wheeled Mobility Repair Service National Contract &"Arial,Regular"&12Attachment 10 36C79123R0001
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